


Could It Be?

by Thenewmrsweasley



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-12 01:47:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 24,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11151633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thenewmrsweasley/pseuds/Thenewmrsweasley
Summary: Hermione works for the twins in their joke shop. When one of their old friends starts working with her will she be the cool collected girl everyone has known to love, or will her fear of rejection keep her from staying that way?





	1. Chapter 1

It was a slow day at the Weasley Wizard's Wheezes which was absolutely unheard of. Hermione lounged behind the counter as a couple of younger kids, too young to be in Hogwarts dragged their parents into the store. _Maybe that's why it's slow._ Hermione thought. She sat with her foot leaning against the counter, covered in her running shoes. _Thank Merlin I can work in comfortable clothes here._ She said standing and stretching making sure to fix her low-riding jeans and grey fitted tee-shirt after doing so.

"Hey George," She called to the back room, "What day is it?"

"September first." He replied followed by a loud bang. "I'm alright."

Hermione chewed on her thumb nail. _Everyone's off to Hogwarts, meaning it'll be slow until the hols._ "Excuse me miss," someone interrupted her thoughts. "I was wondering if you have any more of these." A young woman said holding out a skiving snackbox. "I want to send some to my brother at Hogwarts." The girls giggled.

"I'll check in the back for you." Hermione got up and walked into the back room which was filled with a deep blue smoke. "I'm not even going to ask." She said coughing. "Are there any snackboxes back here, apparently that shelf has been cleaned out."

"Yeah they're to your left." George said. Hermione opened a box making sure it was the right one and took it out to the front desk.

"How many did you want?" She asked the girl, holding out three which she took. After the witch went back to look for more goodies, Hermione took the box and restocked the shelf. It was the first to empty when all the students came back, knowing it was their only chance at missing out on homework assignments and have a reason to do so.

Hearing the bell ring signaling someone entering the store, Hermione heard Fred's laughter. He had gone to get lunch for the three of them an hour ago. Turning around she noticed he was talking to someone who looked vaguely familiar. "I hope you've brought lunch with you," Hermione said smirking and setting a hand on her hip. "I'm starving."

Fred held up the large brown bag filled with muggle Chinese food, something the boys had been turned on to after hiring the former bookworm turned prankster. "George in the backroom?" Hermione nodded returning to her stocking duties.

"Could it be the one and only Hermione Granger is working for the Weasley twins," The boy Fred had brought with him said idling up to her grinning. "At their joke shop?"

The boy was tall, built, and tan with what seemed to be a Scottish accent. He had a great smile which the daughter or dentists would notice first, but it was her eyes that enticed her. The green-blue color was simply wonderful and she felt herself smile.

"I guess that's what I ended up doing after school." She shrugged trying not to blush.

"And here we all thought you would become the Mistress of Magic someday." He picked up a jar containing plastic eyes that were charmed to blink. "What changed your mind?"

Hermione shrugged taking the last of the merchandise out of the cardboard box and making it disappear. "I guess I got bored with everything after the war, I didn't want to go out looking for death eaters and didn't want to do anything with the ministry." Walking back up to the front desk to ring people up she noticed the Scottish boy followed her.

"I guess I'm just surprised seeing you work in a joke shop is all," he confessed. "I mean, you hated the twins' pranks in school. You thought they were juvenile."

"They were." She corrected giving the customer their change. "They've had a few years to perfect them and sell them in an actual store instead of out of their bags."

George threw open the curtains separating the store from the back room. "Ladies and gentlemen: Oliver Wood!" The boys embraced and laughed.

 _That's how I know him!_ Hermione smiled. _The famous Oliver Wood, known to be more obsessed with quidditch than school or even girls._

"What are you doing here; I thought you were playing for Puddlemere?"George asked perching himself on the counter.

Fred rejoined the group still holding the bag filled with lunch and set it out handing Hermione her food. "I asked the same thing, said he wouldn't talk until he'd seen both of us."

Oliver nodded. "Well, you might've heard about that nasty fall I took at the end of last season. Bludger to the back; fell off my broom and landed on the ground. I was unconscious for about a week." The boys nodded. "Well, it shattered my shoulder and the team healer said even with skele-grow it wouldn't be the same again. It hurts sometimes if I don't stretch it." The man now looked upset. "So, I retired from the sport and moved back to England. Thought I might come see two of my favorite beaters in the mean while and maybe ask for a part-time job to keep rent money coming in." He looked hopefully at the twins.

"OF COURSE!" They both yelled together.

"This calls for a celebration," Fred said. "We'll all go to the pub tonight for some drinks."

"On us." George said. "This includes you Mione."

She rolled her eyes and grabbed some more general tso's chicken with her chopsticks. "Of course it does anything to bring Hermione out and get her drunk. You'll just make fun of me like you did last time." Oliver sent her a confused look. "Last time we went out to celebrate they took me to a muggle club in downtown London and bought drink after drink. I ended up being carried back here and they left me on their couch so the next morning when they both woke up to make breakfast they started clanging the pots and pans together. Eventually," She gave them both a pointed look. "They took mercy on me and gave me pepper up potion."

The twins were laughing as she recanted the story. "Ah, but you didn't tell him the best part Mia." Fred said using the nickname he bestowed upon her.

"They tried hooking me up with this forty-something bachelor with a toupee and insisted he take me out for fast-food." She finished the story by reaching in the bag and pulling out a soda. "He was into the idea until he puked all over my shoes."

"Good thing we all know magic or you would have smelled really bad for the rest of the night." The boys all laughed this time. "Hey Mia, can you go owl mum and let her know that we'll be bringing a guest to dinner tonight?" Fred asked.

Walking up the stairs to the twin's flat, Hermione knew she didn't have to write a letter at all. Fred had probably flooed his mother after arriving and was just looking for a way to get her out of the room. Setting her food down she picked up a piece of parchment and jotted down a note and sent it off with one of the three owls they had.

_Something tells me the twins have something up their sleeves._


	2. Chapter 2

When Oliver Wood landed back in Diagon Alley after leaving England a few years ago, she hadn't exactly expected to come back this way. He had been Puddlemere United's star keeper, but the Chudley Cannon's just couldn't quite learn how to play the correct way so he ended up on the outs with the game her loved so much.

" _I'm sorry coach; my shoulder just isn't the same. I'm going to have to retire early and keep what's left of my motor skills intact." An emotional Wood had said, sitting in the head coach's office._

" _What are you planning on doing then?" The man asked._

_Wood smirked. "I've got an idea."_

A lot of shops had closed up in Diagon Alley during the war: Ollivander's had closed to the wandmaker being captured, Fortescue's had also closed because of the man in charge being kidnapped and murdered. After the war Mr. Fortescue's daughter had taken over the business under the notion that "all children need ice cream."

Walking down the cobblestone streets Wood turned a few heads, some because he was an international quidditch star and others because he was devilishly handsome. He was six feet tall with enough muscle on him to make the sleeves of his tee-shirt cling to his arms, his shaggy brown hair fell to just above his eyes, and his constant smile always made people feel drawn to him.

"Wood?" Focusing on the street ahead of him he stopped. "What is Oliver-sodding-Wood doing in Diagon Alley?" Fred Weasley ran up to him. Oliver pulled his hands out of the pockets of his jeans and hugged his long-time friend.

"I'm here to see you," He said simply. "and the rest of your family of course."

"But I thought you had a game today in Italy? That's what the paper said at least."

"That's a story I'll tell you and George together." The red head smiled and lead the way to the eye-popping shop on the next corner.

"It's not much, but it's home." Fred said pushing open the door as the pair laughed.

"I hope you've brought lunch with you, I'm starving." Wood looked to his left as a girl stood there stocking shelves, her hand on her hip. Noticing the bag in Fred's hand for the first time as he walked towards the back of the store he shook his head.

Looking at the girl Oliver smiled more. She was taller than he remembered and her hair was pulled back in a messy bun, but he remembered.

"Could it be the one and only Hermione Granger is working for the Weasley twins, at their joke shop?" He stood next to her noticing how great her smile was.

He talked to Hermione for awhile before George burst out of the back room questioning him just as Fred had. After telling them his story and getting himself a job he felt relieved. He knew his old friends would hire him, but for some reason he felt nervous.

"This calls for a celebration, we'll go to the pub tonight for some drinks."

The four went on talking for quite some time before Fred sent Hermione upstairs.

"We heard about what happened between you and Katie." George said. "Sorry man."

"I guess I understood why she did it, but I'm still pissed you know?" Wood shrugged stuffing his hands back into the depths of the jeans pockets. "I was never around, I should have never started a relationship I knew I wouldn't be able to commit to and that's my fault."

"But she didn't have to go and shag another guy in your bed." Fred seethed. "You should have heard Angelina after she found out, if I hadn't taken her wand I think she might've gone and killed Katie."

Wood chuckled a bit. "Like I said: I understand why she did it." He finished as Hermione walked back in the room.

"Our little Mia has some experience in that department as well," George said sadly.

"What department?" She said taking a sip of her soda.

"Being cheated on," Oliver noticed that she tensed up and closed her eyes.

"I thought we agreed not to talk about that?" She finally said in a low voice. She had opened the till and started counting money.

George turned around. "I'm just saying that Oliver here isn't alone in this, you've both experienced what that's like."

"I think my situation is a little different than his," Turning her gaze towards the twin who kept talking, Hermione's eyes were filled with fire. _If looks could kill._ Oliver thought. "And we agreed not to talk about it."

Hermione finished counting the coins and took a few out to put in the deposit bag and threw it at George.

"We're going to be late for dinner if we don't start closing up now." She said walking past the boys towards the front door. Oliver noticed how nice her bum looked in the jeans as she walked away.

After taking the deposit bag up to the flat, turning off the lights, and locking the doors: the four eventually apparated to the Burrow and were met by many excited voices in the garden.

Bill and Charlie had set the big tables outside for the family dinner and were busy playing with Teddy as Andromeda sat nearby watching. Teddy saw Hermione and crawled towards her.

"Hello there big guy," She said scooping him up in her arms. "I see we've gone with a nice shade of green for our hair today." The little boy cooed as he grabbed her nose. "It looks dashing on you." Hermione continued smiling at the older woman who walked over towards her.

"He's getting bigger every day," She said smiling taking the boy from Hermione. "Soon he'll start walking."

"And we know by that point Harry will have bought him a toy broom." The twins said coming over to greet the baby and his grandmother.

Hermione snuck away to say hello to the oldest two Weasley's giving each a hug before retreating inside. Wood was left in the garden and it took a few moments before Bill and Charlie finally realized he was there.

Eventually he had been taken into the kitchen where there were more hugs and handshakes. He noticed there were women at the kitchen table he didn't know and took the time to introduce himself.

"This is Fleur, Bill's wife." Hermione said patting the blonde's stomach since she was obviously pregnant. "This is Charlie's girlfriend Angelica."

"Hermione dear, would you go get the boys and Ginny for dinner?" Mrs. Weasley said smiling. "I'm sure they would love to see Oliver is here." Hermione got up and motioned for Wood to follow her as she bolted up the stairs, taking two at a time. Getting to the top floor Hermione threw the door open.

"Dinner time and we have a guest." She smiled as Ron and Harry's faces lit up seeing their old house mate.

After shaking hands with the boys and hugging Ginny, Wood made his way back down to the garden and met everyone outside. He sat in between Fred and Harry, noticing that Hermione had sat diagonal from him.

When dinner was over Mrs. Weasley called down the table. "Oliver, do you have a place to stay?"

He nodded, "I have a flat in the residential section of Diagon Alley. I just got it this morning."

"Thanks for dinner mum," The twins and Hermione rose "But we have a celebration planned for the newest employee of our shop." Oliver stood as well bidding everyone a farewell and promises to see them soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Apparating with the boy's to the Three Broomsticks Hermione made her way to the bar ahead of them. "Hello Rosmerta," She said kindly "Can I get four firewhiskey's on Mr's. Weasley's tab?" The older woman laughed.

"Celebrating something tonight, are we?" She asked pouring the drinks in front of Hermione.

"We have a new employee, an old friend of the twin's from school." Taking the drinks she bid her thanks and walked over towards the regular booth they used.

The boys all took a glass and as Hermione sat they all tipped the drink down. "Thanks for the first round, Mia."

"I told Rosmerta it was on your tab." She and Oliver laughed as a waiter came over to the table.

"Can we get a round of the green fairy and a basket of fries?" George asked. "We already started a tab apparently." The group sat and drank for awhile until Fred looked down at his watch.

"Blimey, it's already thirty-three in the morning!" Then after closing one of his eyes he hiccupped. "Never mind, it's only three in the morning. We can drink some more!"

"I think it's time I be getting' home." Oliver said trying to stand. "I haf'ta be at work in tha mornin'."  
He slurred as Hermione giggled. "I don' think I should apparated." The Scot finished very seriously.

"And that's why we had a floo built in," Rosmerta said standing at their table. "Here's your tab." She said handing it to the nearest twin. "Have a nice night."

Eventually the group stood and walked to the floo, each leaving and waving to the person behind them. "Are you sure you can make it home alright'?" Oliver asked Hermione before stepping into the fire. The girl shook her head. "Ok, see yah at work."

Within a moment Hermione arrived in her living room, walking to her room she kicked off her shoes and crawled into bed.

The next morning she woke up and looked over at the picture of her and the twins outside the store. Fred was waving and George was tapping his watch as picture Hermione just shrugged. She had been their first hire and they wanted her to remember that day. Getting out of bed and grabbing fresh underwear she made her way to the shower. It was common to see one of the most brilliant witches of her time walking around her flat in nothing but knickers and a bra since she didn't share it with anyone.

Going to the kitchen and turning on the electric coffee maker she had bought, Hermione made herself some tea and toast.

"Hermione, are you here?" She stopped spreading the jam on her breakfast with a shocked silence. "It's Oliver, are you awake?"

"I, uh, I'm awake but stay right where you are!" Getting panicky Hermione apparated into her bedroom and grabbed the robe she kept on the back of the door. "Much better, what's up Oliver?" She asked walking back out to the living room.

"The twins wanted me to stop up here and ask if you wanted to go to breakfast since the shop doesn't need to be opened for another two hours." The boys hands were shoving into his pockets and an embarrassed look took over his face.

Nodding Hermione went to the kitchen. "Help me finish this piece of toast first?" She cut it in half and turned off her tea maker. Taking a bite she smiled. "I'll go get dressed." Running around her room pulling on a pair of dark jeans and a light green tee-shirt Hermione put her running shoes back on and pulled her hair up in a pony tail. "Alright, let's go." She said locking her front door.

"Hermione," Oliver got really nervous. "Were you…naked when I got here?" Both of their cheeks were now red.

"I was in my underwear; I normally do that after I shower since I'm the only one who lives here." She offered a ceramic bowl to Oliver who took a bit of the powder. When the pair got to the twins flat they were greeted with silence. "Boys, where are you?" Hermione called.

"Are we all ready to go?" Fred asked walking out of his room. "Good, George let's go!" The twins went through the floo to a place called Dexter's. When everyone arrived there they found a table and looked through the menu's. "So Oliver, did you walk in on Mia after her shower?" The twins laughed.

"You set me up!" The older boy seethed.

"Well, it was the perfect opportunity!" George said. "We've both done it on accident. So we thought, why not make it a work thing and have Oliver do it as well."

"Too bad I apparated from the kitchen to my room when he got there," The girl said smugly as the group got their tea. "He didn't see a thing." The twins stopped laughing as Oliver high-fived Hermione. "Now can we get breakfast, and are you paying?" By the time they were all finished with their food it was time to open the store so they flooed back.

Hermione went to the front door and unlocked it. "Basically you sit here and wait for people to come to the register. There's a button for every item and you just hit the button for each one. So if someone has two ton-tongue toffee's you hit that button twice." Oliver nodded.

Retreating to the back room Fred handed her the deposit bag. "You know how to do this, how about taking Oliver along to show him?" Hermione nodded as she walked back to the front of the store.

"You're coming with me; we have to make a deposit at Gringotts." The pair walked out to the street and turned right walking in silence. "So why did you come to the joke shop for a job?" Hermione finally asked. "You could have gotten any job you wanted."

Oliver thought for awhile. "I guess I didn't want a high-stress job. I wanted to get paid while hanging out with my friends and having fun which is the joke shop all around. Besides I knew I would be invited to the family dinner's and I missed Mrs. Weasley's cooking while I was traveling." This made Hermione laugh.

"That makes the most sense." Walking into the large marble building and up to a goblin Hermione set the deposit bag on the desk. "Morning Grook, here's what we have from yesterday." The goblin looked beyond Hermione who he saw the most often. "This is Oliver, he's the new hire and I'm showing him the ropes." The goblin nodded and took the bag counting out the money. After they were all finished in the bank they sauntered back to the shop and started restocking shelves.

 


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the day went by just as slowly as the day before except that today Hermione had to teach Oliver about everything in the store.

"You can restock the shelves by magic if you want, that way it goes by faster. I enjoy doing it by hand on slow days," She explained. "Gives me something to do."

"What if a customer is looking for something specific?"

"Everything is in alphabetical order, so Peruvian vanishing powder is on the shelf with the Pygmy Puffs and the Pimple Pillows. If you can read, you can find the products easily." She explained. "If the customer can't find it on the shelf or took the last one, you can always go in the back and grab more for them." Oliver nodded. "But be careful walking back in there since that's where the twins like to experiment the most so you never know what you might be walking into."

Oliver sat back after trying everything out, feeling confident about his new job. "And I can wear whatever I like to work?"

"I normally just wear jeans and tee-shirts but there might be days where I come in wearing a dress or something of the sort." She shrugged.

"She would never come to work directly after a shower though." George said walking out with a plate of sandwiches. They laughed as Oliver turned red.

A few hours later, after taunting from the twins Oliver left the shop to head home. He much preferred walking to apparating or floo because he was so close. _Maybe I should start apparating home._ He though noticing that people were looking at him. _Might be safer that way._ He stopped outside Quality Quidditch Supplies to sign a little boy's Magazine and to take a picture, and then walked away quickly trying desperately to make his way to the confines of his own home.

Finally climbing the stairs of his flat, Oliver fell onto his bed face first. Kicking off his shoes he thought about never moving again…until he heard tapping on his window.

"Who the hell is trying to get a hold of my now?" He grumbled getting up from his comfortable position and finding the window. "Oh, it's Harry."

_Hey Oliver, we're thinking of putting together a quidditch match for fun this weekend at the Burrow. Thought it would be nice if you came out to play. Let me know._

_Harry_

Finding some spare parchment Oliver scribbled asking Harry what time and sent it off with the owl. Closing the window again the man pulled off his shirt and headed towards his bathroom. _I need a nice hot shower right now._

"Oh," He turned around to see Hermione standing by his fireplace. "I guess I should have knocked on your door or something first, sorry." She said picking at her finger nails.

"It's fine, what's up?" He asked casually. Having his shirt off in front of girls was something he was used to, he had a good enough body to pull it off.

"I didn't know if you had plans for dinner, I mean I don't really feel like eating a home tonight and wanted to know if maybe you'd like to come along." The girl stammered.

Oliver nodded, pulling his shirt back on. "I'll go get my shoes," Hermione smiled at him. "Where did you want to go?"

"I was thinking the Leaky Cauldron, nothing too fancy or far away." Oliver's living space was still kind of empty; no furniture filled the room except for a few boxes. "Are you going to get a couch?" Hermione called.

"I was thinking about it, but who else am I really going to have over here?" He shrugged. "You don't mind walking do you?" He opened the door and followed Hermione out of the building back to the street.

"I don't know, maybe someday you'll want to invite someone over for drinks and they won't have anywhere to sit but your bed. Unless that's you're plan."

Oliver chuckled. "Of course it is, I take a pretty lady out somewhere and by the end of the night she won't have any choice but to come back to my bedroom. And I thought no woman would ever figure it out." The pair walked into the old pub and were instantly greeted by Harry and Ginny.

"I didn't know you would be here Mione." Ginny said hugging her. "And definitely not with Oliver Wood." The red head walked over and hugged him.

"Hello to you too Ginny," He shook hands with Harry. "Did you get my owl?"

"We were thinking of meeting there around one o'clock. Mrs. Weasley said she would fix us all dinner afterwards." The four sat in a booth together. "And then maybe after we can all go to the muggle club you told us about Mione."

She blushed as Oliver tried to cover up his laughter. "Can we invite the twins?" He asked receiving a death glare.

"They _are_ coming to play quidditch, they'll want to come." Ginny interjected. Hermione groaned at the thought of it all. "At least this time it won't be just you three and they won't leave you on their couch."

They all ordered their food and ate in company they all enjoyed.

"Will you be coming on Saturday Mione?" Harry asked.

"To watch, yes." She took a bite of her salad. "You know I don't fly."

Looking at her in an odd way Oliver cleared his throat. "What do you mean you 'don't fly' lass?"

"I mean: I don't like flying, lad." She mocked something she never would have dared do back at Hogwarts.

"The real question here is: do you like quidditch?" He looked at her intently as if their friendship was resting on this one answer.

"I don't mind it, I don't keep up with the stats and I don't have a favorite team but I like watching."

"So," The Scot took a drink. "You like the sport, you would just never play it?"

"Exactly." And with that the conversation of quidditch was finished, and Oliver resumed asking Harry about what he had been doing.

However, he didn't miss the 'We're talking later' look Ginny sent across the table to her best friend.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ginny, I swear nothing it going on!" Hermione said for the ninth time. They had finished dinner and decided to walk around Diagon Alley for awhile. The boys almost instantly ran to Quality Quidditch Supplies while the girls hung back to talk for a bit.

"You show up to dinner together, just the two of you?" The red head seemed a bit suspicious.

"You know how I hate eating alone, it just depresses me. I almost always end up taking a tub of ice cream out of the freezer and eat half of it for dessert!" The girls walked into the store.

"I'm just saying that you two would make adorable babies!" Ginny laughed walking over to the boys.

"Hey Gin look, you can personalize sweatshirts from your favorite team!" Harry beamed. "We should get you one."

"Yeah we've already picked ours out." Oliver laughed holding up the Puddlemere United hoodie with WOOD written across the back shoulders.

"Shouldn't you already have one of those?" Hermione laughed.

He shook his head. "The team only gave us jerseys and windbreakers to wear, and the jerseys are the only ones with our name on it." Suddenly Hermione felt alone, Ginny had picked out a Holyhead Harpies sweatshirt and had decided to get it personalized. "You want one Granger?" Oliver was standing next to her, she hadn't even noticed.

"I was thinking about it. But I don't know what team I would pick." She shrugged.

"Well, Puddlemere is the best team by far," He whispered. "But don't let Gin hear me say that. And if you get a Chudley Cannon one I think I might stop talking to you."

She looked to her side disgusted, "The Cannon's are always losing, and I would **never** want to wear anything supporting them." She emphasized. "The Arrow's maybe, but never the Cannons."

"The Arrow's have actually done fairly well this season so far, I'm shocked you know this."

Smiling Hermione folded her arms. "There's a lot about me that would shock you now Wood." The pair chuckled a bit. "So when is Puddlemere's next home game?" she asked picking up a magazine and flipping through it.

"Sometime next month. Why?"

Setting the magazine back on the rack Hermione's eyes glinted. "What do you say we ask our bosses for a work outing to the game? You'd get to see all your old friends, I know the boys love going to games, and I've never been to one."

Oliver blinked. "That is a brilliant idea." Taking the sweatshirt to the register they both smiled deviously. "We should start planting the idea in their heads this week, make it seem like it was their idea."

"They might even pay for the tickets."

"No need," He picked up his purchase. "I get free tickets for me and a few friends. Coach's way of trying to reel me back into the sport,"

"Brilliant." Hermione breathed. The four left the building and kept walking stopping in the Magical Menagerie. Crookshanks had died her last year of school, having no pet pained Hermione and she desperately wanted a new one.

"I think we're off," Harry said standing behind her. "See you Saturday. Bring clothes to wear to the club!"

Hermione groaned again making Oliver laugh. "Please make sure I don't end up on the twins couch again."

The two walked towards the residential area of Diagon Alley since they both lived there. "I guess I'll see you at work." Oliver said slightly awkwardly.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." They started walking away from each other. "And if the twins decide on breakfast again, I'll wear my good underwear." Laughing, Hermione walked into her apartment building and up to her flat cheeks burning red.

 _Why in the world would I say_ that _out loud?_ She screamed at herself mentally knowing how stupid that had sounded. Changing into her night clothes, which consisted of a long shirt and underwear (again, she lived alone why bother with pants?) she climbed into bed and fell asleep.

"Good morning employees!" Fred yelled from the back room. "We have bagels!"

"Damn, wasted my good underwear on nothing." Hermione joked to Oliver as they joined their bosses.

"First thing on the agenda today is to get a new picture taken!" George said excitedly. "Now that Oliver has joined our merry band of pranksters we have to honor him with a picture!"

"And I can have one for my mantle, yes?" Hermione asked picking up a cinnamon raisin bagel.

The twins nodded. "Would you like some bagel with your cream cheese?" Fred added as an afterthought.

They all laughed. "What can I say, I like cream cheese."

The rest of the day, and week went by without a hitch. Hermione kicked herself constantly remembering her embarrassing comments and awkward moments with Oliver.

While she was counting out the register on Friday, Fred joined her. Oliver had run home to take care of something and George was making the four of them dinner. "I don't think he knows how to handle you yet."

Hermione didn't even look up from the coins. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oliver, I don't think he's gotten used to the idea that you're not out saving the world or house elves like you were in school." Fred stretched. "He's a bit confused by it really. Especially when you made that comment about your good underwear."

Hermione's face turned bright red. "He told you about that?" Fred nodded. "And since when have you taken the liberty to talk about me with other people?"

"Since always, you're like our little sister. George and I go on about you all the time." He could see her body relax a bit. "You have no idea how many people we told when you started working here, we were so excited!" Fred grinned like a child. "I mean how long had you gone on about how our products would never work, and how many of them had you taken away? Then you come along after the war and ask us for a job. It was mind blowing, but one of the best decisions we ever made."

"And why's that?" Hermione zipped up the deposit bag and handed it to her friend.

Resting an arm around her petite shoulders Fred smiled. "Because you're brilliant, and like I said earlier: you're like a sister to us. George and I wouldn't have just hired _anybody_ to work for us. We set our standards extremely high." The pair walked upstairs to the flat after locking the front door and were met by the tasty odor of homemade pizza.

"George my boy, you may have outdone yourself this time." Fred yelled from his bed room. The fire turned emerald and Oliver stepped into the living room.

"That smells great," He said, having gone home he picked up his new sweatshirt. "Hey guys I wanted to show you this." The twins came out to the living room. "I got it made at Quality Quidditch Supplies; they do it for any team!"

Hermione smirked at the clever boy.

"We should go get ourselves some Puddlemere garb," George said in awe of not having known this. "We could have a Puddlemere day!"

"Did you know Hermione's never been to a quidditch game before?" Oliver kept on.

The twins exchanged confused glances. "Weren't you at the World Cup with us?"

"That's right, I was." She looked at Wood. "What I meant was: I've never been to a Puddlemere game." The boy nodded taking a bite of his pizza.

The twins looked at each other and then to their employees. "It's settled, we're going to a match." They said in unison.

 _That was much easier than I thought it would be_.


	6. Chapter 6

Oliver woke up on Saturday like a kid on Christmas. He hadn't played a game of quidditch since the accident and was excited that he got the chance again, even if it was just for fun.

Jumping out of bed he got in the shower and quickly washed himself. After drying he returned to his bedroom in search of jeans and a long sleeve shirt. He contemplated wearing his old Gryffindor jersey but tossed it on the bed knowing he would get made fun of. Finally pulling on a pair of jeans and a long sleeve blue shirt he was ready to go, a pair of trainers later and he was even more satisfied.

 _I wonder if I should wear a different shirt to go out in._ He thought. _If I want to change I'll come back here, not like it takes forever._ Brushing his teeth and making sure he didn't have bed head, Oliver apparated to the Burrow a bit early.

"Good morning Oliver dear," Mrs. Weasley said as he walked in the door. "How have you been?" She asked hugging him.

"I'm fine," He replied taking a seat at the table. "The twins have really taken care of me down at the shop." Just then Ron and Harry walked into the kitchen.

"Morning," They both grumbled sitting across from him.

"Would you like some breakfast, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked setting plates in front of the zombie-esque boys.

"Yes, please." Oliver responded taking a mug of tea as well.

After a second helping of eggs and potatoes the boys were finally awake and ready to play. Ginny had joined them at the table having already gotten dressed, and the twins showed up not long after. The six of them picked brooms from the closet and made their way to the orchard. Oliver had taken one of the worst brooms as a handicap for playing on a professional team, the argument he made about his hurt shoulder didn't change anyone's mind.

"Ok captains are going to be me and Wood." Harry said pointing out that they had been captains in school. "I pick Ginny."

"Fred."

"Ron."

"George." Oliver finished.

"Why is it that I'm not surprised at these teams?" Hermione said laughing as she walked up towards them. As expected she was holding a book in her left hand. "By the way Ginny, I left my shirt in your room so I can change later." The red head nodded.

"Why would you need to change?" Fred asked.

Everyone smirked in Hermione's direction. "Because we're going to that muggle club you took her to when you hired her." Harry said laughing as he shot in the air.

The twins got really excited as they flew around the orchard. Oliver flew around for awhile as well a huge smile plastered on his face before settling in at his team's basket. Fred and George had been some of the best beaters he ever played with, but they were just as great at playing chasers, almost as good as Ginny. Blocking some of her shots was difficult, even for Oliver.

 _That girl is going to be a pro some day._ He thought, not daring to call it out loud. The teams were playing to twenty baskets, and so far they each had three.

The game went on for some time as the teams were very evenly matched and just as Mrs. Weasley was calling everyone for dinner Ginny scored the game winning goal. "That was great." Oliver said still beaming. Hermione had already made her way to the house and everyone raced down the hill to catch up.

"Dig in everyone!" The kids all sat around the table with the parent Weasley's at one end. Everyone piled up their plates and started eating not even taking the time to talk and after three of four helpings for each of the boys they all leaned back in their chairs, finally satisfied.

"I'm going to take a shower."Ginny announced standing followed by Hermione who had decided to start getting herself ready.

When the girls had left, Fred and George leaned in. "You should dance with her tonight," Oliver looked at them confusion written all over his face. "Come on we see the way you look at her, don't deny it."

"There is nothing going on," He said taking a breath. "We're friends and more importantly we work together so why would I want to make things awkward?"

Mr. Weasley cut into their conversation. "So Oliver, how's your shoulder feeling?" Thankful for the excuse, he turned his focus to talking about the accident.

Each of the boys had left to take a shower and get dressed, which left Oliver sitting at the table. "You don't mind if I grab a quick shower, do you?" He asked standing. Both insisted he go take one before going out.

"Oliver," Hermione called from Ginny's room as he exited the bathroom. "Is that the shirt you're wearing out?" He nodded. "Come here, I'll take all the sweat out of it." With a flick of her wand, Hermione made the stench and wetness under his arms disappear.

He smiled at her. "Thanks," He sniffed his clothes, laundry fresh. "You look…amazing" He said finally taking a look at the girl he was talking to.

Her hair was curly and half of it was pulled back, she wore a pair of light jeans and a red halter top with black flats and held a matching black clutch.

"It's not too much?" She asked felling self-conscious all of the sudden.

Oliver shook his head. "No, it looks great." Feeling himself blush he told her he was going to check and see if everyone else was ready to go.

Walking into the twins room Oliver slumped on the nearest bed. "Don't worry mate," George said buttoning his shirt. "Soon enough we'll get you drunk enough you don't care." Oliver groaned.

Eventually the group left and apparated to the Leaky Cauldron since the club wasn't too far away. Everyone was laughing and having a good time when they got there.

"First round's on us." The twins said grabbing a waitress and ordering shots for everyone. "So who's couch is Mia ending up on tonight?"

Everyone laughed again taking the drinks as they arrived. "Well seeing as I don't have a couch…" Oliver went on jokingly.

Ginny and Harry got up to dance leaving Hermione with the other four boys.

"Look Ronnikins, that girl over there is pretty why don't you go buy her a drink?" George handed him some muggle money and pushed his little brother away from the table.

Hermione smirked. "Looks like there's another set of twins in here tonight." Fred and George whipped their heads around finally setting eyes on the black haired girls.

"We'll catch you around," They called walking across the room.

"Well, looks like it's just-" Oliver was cut off by a strange man walking up to the table.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but I was wondering if I could buy you a drink?" He said to Hermione.

The girl blushed a bit. "I'm good with this one, thank you though." She said pointing to her glass. Walking off dejectedly the man stopped at another table and offered someone else a drink.

"Why did you turn him down?" Oliver asked signaling to the waitress for two more drinks.

Shrugging she handed the waitress her now empty glass. "I was never really keen on meeting guys in places like this." She took sip of the fruity drink. "Besides, I saw him ask multiple girls."

Oliver laughed at her and then turned his attention to the twins who had started dancing with the twin girls. "I don't suppose you want to dance, do you?" He offered casually noticing Hermione blush again.

"I'd love to." They got up and walked onto the dance floor still holding their drinks.

Muggle music was similar to the music he listened to on wizard radio, but the dancing was completely different. _Oh, sweet Merlin._ He thought as Hermione started grinding into him, he placed a hand on her hip and followed her rhythm.

After a few songs they both got tired and retreated back to the table for some more drinks.

"Do you think the twins know we're still running their tab?" Hermione asked receiving another fruity cocktail and another shot.

"Probably not," Oliver responded lifting his own shot. "Cheers." They both downed it within a few seconds and moved on to their other drinks. Soon Harry and Ginny returned to the table looking tired from all the dancing.

"Hermione how many drinks have you had?" Harry asked.

"Two drinks and three shots," She replied. "Do I look drunk already?" Laughing Harry gave a non-committal shrug. "I can still handle at least two more drinks."

Ginny smiled. "I think we should get you on that, and I want one too."

"Remember Granger, I don't have a couch for you to pass out on." Oliver said draining his glass and laughing.

 


	7. Chapter 7

The four sat at the table laughing and joking about almost everything. When Ginny and Hermione drank together they laughed at everything, tonight was no exception.

"Let's get another round of drinks." Hermione said finishing the one she had and pushing it away from her.

"I think you've had enough, Mione." Harry teased already trying to make sure Ginny was balanced on her stool.

Sticking her lip out at Oliver she batted her eyelashes. "One more drink pwease?" She might've been drunk but she still knew how to pout enough to get what she wanted.

"One more, then we're getting you home." Oliver caved walking up to the bar and ordering another round.

"Mione, don't you think Oliver looks really good in that shirt?" Ginny whispered making Harry roll his eyes.

"It looks good on him I guess," She answered, the red in her cheeks from drinking covering her blush. _How would Gin have known that's exactly what I was thinking?_

"Here we are lass," Oliver returned handing Hermione her drink as well as Ginny. "This is the last one then we're leaving." Clinking their glasses together the three smiled.

"I guess Fred and George are really enjoying their new twin friends." Harry commented.

"This should make work interesting on Monday," Hermione said taking a drink out of her glass.

The group kept talking and eventually the end to Hermione's drink arrived.

"Alright, time to get going." The boys each stood making sure they could stand before helping the girls off the stools. Ginny giggled as she fell into Harry's chest, Hermione had great balance after drinking so she stood on her own two feet at Oliver draped his arm around her shoulders and led the way out of the club.

Walking into an alley Harry and Ginny waved as they apparated home to the Burrow. Oliver grabbed Hermione's hand and apparated to the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron.

"Let me do it," Hermione said opening her clutch and taking out her wand, she loved proving to people she could still function while drunk. Grinning wildly as the bricks began to move aside Oliver put his arm back around the girl and they started walking.

"Did you have fun tonight?" He asked trying to find some sort of conversation starter.

"I'll let you know tomorrow morning," Hermione joked. "Did you?" She shivered slightly and Oliver rubbed his hand down her arm.

"I enjoyed myself," He smiled. "Great way to celebrate getting a new job,"

The pair eventually reached the residential district and just kept walking, absent mindedly. "Just wait until Monday, you might start to regret that." Walking up the stairs in a building Oliver pulled out his keys.

"I'm starving," He commented opening the door and walking straight to the kitchen. "Do you want anything?"

Hermione followed her friend into the kitchen and perched herself on the counter. "I'm fine, thanks." She said "Although I really should drink some water." Without another word Oliver got a glass and filled it up for her.

"Don't want you dehydrated," he joked turning back to his frozen pizza.

Hermione sipped her water and looked around the small kitchen. It was nice, small enough for a guy who probably doesn't cook a whole lot, but big enough to work in. _If two people were in here cooking they would probably bump into each other a lot_. Just as she thought this Oliver turned around and was situated in between her knees. Both of their faces turned bright red as the man faltered before moving.

"S-sorry 'bout that," he stammered maneuvering around her to get a plate out of the cupboard.

Jumping off the counter Hermione awkwardly ran a hand through her hair. "I'll just wait out here," Leaving the small room in a hurry she realized there was no couch for her to lay on and through a silent fit over how stupid she felt.

 _He was_ right there _and I couldn't do anything!_ She screamed in her head. _Inches away from my nose and all I could do was stare._

"You alright?" Oliver was standing behind her now munching on his pizza and looking at her, a worried expression prominent on his face.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Still a little drunk I think,"

"Well I don't have a couch so we're going to have to go sit on my bed." Hermione's cheeks turned red again. "Or we can sit on the floor in here if that's any better." The quick correction made Hermione laugh.

"It's alright, like I said: still drunk." Visibly relaxing Oliver led the way to his room, something Hermione noticed to be fairly large in size but modest for an ex-Quidditch player.

The bed was fully made with a navy blue comforter and matching sheets, white pillows sat at the headboard arranged neatly. Oliver sat down on one side motioning for Hermione to join him. There was a small closet in the corner and a small dresser next to the door that had gone unnoticed until now by Hermione.

"How's that pizza?" Oliver smiled contently as an answer.

"Want some?" As he held out a piece for her to take it flew out of his hand and onto Hermione's top, then fell onto her jeans. "Oh my god, I am so sorry!" He set the plate on the floor and looked around for a towel.

"Oliver, it's alright it'll come out. I'm sure Mrs. Weasley knows some charm to clean it." Getting up and walking into the bathroom Hermione tried to wet the spots so they wouldn't set in as much. When Oliver showed up in the doorway it took Hermione by surprise.

"I brought you something to change into," Holding up his old Gryffindor Quidditch jersey he blushed. "I, uh, couldn't find any shorts that would fit you though." His blush increased.

Hermione smiled and took the jersey. "Good thing I wore nice underwear." The tension passed and once again the pair was laughing with each other. "I'm just gonna change in here."

Taking off the halter, Hermione was sure not to get pizza sauce on anything else and laid it on the floor then did the same thing with her jeans. The jersey was long enough to reach her upper thigh which made her feel slightly uncomfortable. Taking a deep breath she opened the bathroom door and walked back into Oliver's room.

Oliver had eaten the last piece of pizza and the plate was sitting on the floor. When Hermione walked in she noticed Oliver had taken his shirt off and was going through his dresser drawers. Even though he had been out of quidditch for awhile, the muscles were still visible and had Hermione entranced.

"Sorry, I was just looking for a pair of shorts." The blush returned on Hermione's face.

"I didn't mean to interrupt you changing." She said covering her face and backing out of the door.

"Ok, you can come in now." When she walked back into the room Oliver had changed out of jeans and into mesh shorts, which showed off his nice calf muscles, and she crawled onto the bed lying on her stomach.

 _This pillow smells like him._ She thought smiling slightly as the man in question fell backwards onto his own pillow.

"I hope you had a good time tonight," Oliver mumbled sounding very tired all of the sudden which cause Hermione to yawn.

"I hope you did too," She replied pulling the covers over her legs.

Eventually, Hermione's breathing evened out and she fell asleep exactly where she was.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning Oliver woke, nuzzling his face into the soft hair on his pillow and inhaled deeply. _Lilacs,_ he smiled to himself still half asleep. Maneuvering his arm around the warmth of the girl in his bed Oliver rested his hand on her waist and noticed that the shirt she was wearing had rode up in her sleep and was barely covering her legs.

"Oliver! Oliver, are you awake?" He heard from the living room. Slowly moving himself away from the girl and out of his room he shut the door and walked out to meet his guest. "There you are, see Fred I told you he was still in bed."

"Will you two quiet down," he pleaded making his way to the kitchen for a glass of water, not noticing one sitting on the counter. "Me head is thanking me for your party last night lads."

The twins smiled, "We thought it would, which is why you have to get dressed and ready for our employee picture in a few hours!" one of them said excitedly. "Also, grab Hermione on your way over, we haven't been able to find her on anyone's couch." And with a wink they were gone.

Suddenly the night's events all started flooding his brain, if the twins hadn't been able to find Hermione on anyone's couch, and they had already checked her flat then there was only one other place she could be. Walking back to his room Oliver opened the door silently and peered in on the girl asleep, her curly hair covering the rest of her pillow, a slight smile on her face.

"Hermione," shaking her lightly Oliver tried to wake her. "Hermione you need to wake up." She moved around a bit before curling up against the body sitting in the middle of the mattress making Oliver laugh. "No, don't fall back asleep we have to go take the employee picture for the joke shop!" The girls eye's popped open and lifting her head a bit she finally spoke.

"That's today?" Her voice was a bit gravely because of the dehydration, and when Oliver nodded yes she fell back onto the pillow. "This sucks."

"The twins came by a little bit ago and said they couldn't find you on anyone's couch, guess they knew you were here the whole time."

Sitting up and running a hand through her hair she sighed, "I guess I better get going then. I'll just apparate with my clothes and return this to you later if that's alright?" Oliver nodded and watched as the girl walked out of his room.

About two hours later Oliver finally strolled into the shop and noticed Hermione sitting at the counter reading a book. "Busy day?" He joked pulling himself on the counter to sit.

"I'm so swamped with work right now, I'm so glad you came in to help." She deadpanned not taking her eyes off the page. "George wants to talk to you though, he's in the back."

He had to admit, the way Hermione was playing it off like nothing happened made him kind of upset. Oliver liked to see girls that had a crush on him the day after a "sleep over" because they were mostly swept up in his charm. But not Hermione.

"Oliver! Come sit down," George said motioning to the beanbag chair on his right. "When Hermione came into the shop this morning I asked where she had run off to last night, she said you brought her back to Diagon Alley and then went home, now as her big-brother-figure I have to know: is she telling the truth?"

Taken back Oliver blinked for a moment, "If that's what she said then that's what happened. Think about it: have you ever known Hermione to lie about something like that?"

"I guess you're right, it's just that we swung by her flat this morning and she wasn't home. Gave Fred and me quite a fright, I mean we can't be losing our little Mia now can we?"

"For your information George, I stopped by your mothers for a bite to eat and to see Ginny," it was then that Oliver noticed that the girl in question had been standing there the entire time. "The photographer is here."

As Hermione walked back out to the front Oliver chuckled. "I'll go get ready for my close up then," he joked standing.

It took a few minutes for the twins to reappear in the front of the store and when they did the photographer and employees were ushered outside.

"If you could make four copies that would be delightful," Fred said handing the man money and getting the photos in exchange. "We look dashing if I could say so myself." Giving each person in the group a picture Oliver took an extra moment to look at it, it hadn't been coincidence that the twins put he and Hermione in-between them and then squeezed the group together. What caught his attention though was how calm the girl looked next to the boys, like it was where she belonged all along.

"Wood, are you coming back inside?" Hermione called from the doorway looking slightly worried. He sauntered into the shop and started walking to the counter with his coworker. "So I was wondering if you wanted to come over and have dinner at my place tonight." She asked, stopping at one of the shelves and reorganizing a few boxes. "I hate eating alone and I'm sure you don't really have anything besides frozen pizza to eat." She joked sending him an impish grin.

_Merlin I love this job._

"Attention workers! The next Puddlemere game is in one month exactly, and we are going!" George announced, his head poked out between the curtains separating the backroom and the store.

"Before you run off and buy tickets, I actually have vip passes." Oliver addressed, making sure no money had been spent yet.

"Brilliant! Next order of business: Mia, do you have any Puddlemere clothes?" She shook her head no. "Run down to Quality Quidditch Supplies and buy yourself one, Oliver go with her." George handed her money and then disappeared into the back again.

Walking down the main strip in the Alley the pair started laughing. "This was so much easier than I thought it would be." Hermione gasped for air.

"I would have never thought you would do something like this." Oliver wiped the tears out of his eyes. "I mean, Hermione Granger conning her bosses to take a day off work to go watch quidditch and also conning them to buy you a t-shirt."

"I never asked them to buy me anything, but the occasional day off is always nice." Instantly targeting the Puddlemere shirts the pair started going through the selections before finally settling on a navy blue shirt with all the quidditch balls on the back, on the front in gold writing it said "Puddlemere's got balls" which made the pair start laughing again.

The two didn't notice their old school mate walk over to them and only realized her was there after he started speaking. "Well, this is cute. I always thought Granger would be an uptight Mrs. Weasel by now but here she is having fun with one of the world's biggest sports stars."

Oliver sighed, "Hello Malfoy. If there a problem with us having fun?"

"Oh, of course not, I just find it odd. Wouldn't you, seeing **the** Oliver Wood and Miss Mudblood together?" The boy's grey eyes were much duller than before as he stared down the taller Scotsman, trying to intimidate them.

"Malfoy, you never know what to expect these days. Kind of like you buying your robes at a second hand shop with your half-blood wife." Hermione quipped back to him, smirking as she walked past to go pay for her shirt.

As the blonde went for his wand Oliver stepped in front of him, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." And with that he and Hermione left the store leaving a livid man behind.

 


	9. Chapter 9

Ginny waltzed into her brother's store and maneuvered past a few customers to the front desk.

"Why are you sitting out here, Fred?" She asked jumping up on the counter.

"Hermione and Oliver have been sent to QQS to acquire a Puddlemere shirt for Hermione to wear next month."

"Why next month?" The question seemed so obvious when she asked, but then Ginny realized what the answer was. "Never mind, Puddlemere home game. I suppose you lot are going without me?"

Fred looked up at his sister. "Gin, it's a work outing and you don't work here. If you did we would be taking you."

George appeared from the back room shuffling papers around. "Besides it's all part of our master plan."

"What 'master plan'? You never said anything about this!" Ginny ranted, she was as nosey as they got and she was good at getting the information.

"Hermione and Oliver obviously have feelings for each other or at least some weird sexual tension, they just need to realize it."

"So Fred and I are going to make that happen." George began to clarify as Ginny opened her mouth. "It's starting off with some simple and harmless words, phrases, and tasks. Eventually it will get better and grow."

Fred laced his finger, resting his elbows on the counter. "Did Mia stop by this morning to see you?"

"Yeah, she stopped to get her clothes and grab some toast from mum." The girl shrugged.

"So she was only there for a bit?"

"Well it wasn't like grabbing clothes and toast took an hour."

The twins nodded in silence, knowing that it frustrated their sister.

"Neither of you are going to tell me why you just asked that?" As soon as she finished the sentence she realized why they weren't going to elaborate. Hermione and Oliver had just walked into the shop. Ginny gave the twins a look that said 'you'll tell me later' and greeted her friends. "Let's see the shirt!"

The purchase gave everyone a laugh and after talking for a few more minutes the twins retreated to the back room.

"I'm going to stock some shelves," Oliver said grabbing boxes of merchandise and getting to work.

Hermione settled in her chair and pulled out a magazine to read while Ginny kept her position on the counter.

"So, why were you in such a hurry this morning?" The red-head tried to be subtle, a trait she had taught herself after years of living with her brothers. Sometimes it didn't work though, especially on Hermione.

"Just ask me Ginny." Hermione hadn't even taken her eyes off the magazine.

"Where did you go last night?" Leaning in so no one else could eavesdrop her point has been made. Hermione wouldn't lie to her best friend and she knew that, so asking direct questions was the only way to get actual information out of her.

The brunette sighed and tossed the magazine aside. "After we left the club Wood and I apparated back to the Leaky Cauldron and walked through Diagon Alley. My intention was to go to my flat but we ended up talking and didn't separate, so I just went to his place."

"But Wood said he didn't own a couch."

Hermione nodded. "Indeed he does not." Ginny's eyebrow rose, silently asking for more details. "He made a frozen pizza and since we obviously had nowhere else to sit we went to his room. We were drunk and he dropped a slice on my lap getting sauce all over my clothes, which reminds me I need to ask you mom about a cleaning spell. So he let me borrow his old quidditch jersey to change into, I left the room as he changed and when I came back I laid on top of the bed and covers and the next thing I know he's waking me up this morning telling me our employee picture would be in a few hours."

"So if you left the room while he changed, what did he do while you changed?" The impish grin on Ginny's face made Hermione blush.

"I went to the bathroom which is why I left the room, he brought me the jersey, I changed, when I went back to the room he was finished changing." Ginny took a few seconds to think and when she finally came up with something she was cut off by Oliver.

"Hey guys, I want you to meet Liam." The man next to Oliver was just about as tall with jet black hair and blue eyes. "We played on Puddlemere together for a few years. Liam this is Ginny Weasley and this is Hermione Granger." Oliver motioned to each girl as he introduced them.

"It's an honor meeting the both of you," Liam smiled at the girls. "I mean meeting Harry Potter's girlfriend and part of the famous trio. That's something that any wizard from our era would want to accomplish." Smiling politely the girls both wanted to change the subject badly.

After the war all they got was fame and glory, part of the reason Hermione chose a job other than one in the ministry. She had gotten more than enough stories in the Prophet and didn't need any more publicity of any kind. Ginny didn't obviously blend in very well with her hair and still got pointed out every once in awhile, but this was something all the Weasley's had gotten accustomed to and everyone involved was used to be stared at and asked for autographs and pictures.

"Who's this Wood?" Fred asked emerging from the back room, George behind him.

"Fred, George, this is my friend Liam." The men all shook hands.

"You mean Liam Neely the beater from Puddlemere?" Fred clarified. Liam nodded. "You know what this means?"

The rest of the group looked rather confused, except for Hermione who groaned almost inaudibly.

"WE'RE GOING OUT TO CELEBRATE!" The twins chorused throwing their hands in the air for emphasis. "Ginny, it's your job to tell Harry and Ron and to also get dressed up. But not too dressed up because you're still our little sister. Hermione, you're job is to get dressed up, and you can dress however you want but if you look like a hooker we're not taking you."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

* * *

Oliver got the rest of the day off to hang out with Liam, which finally gave him time to go buy a couch.

"So what's the deal with that chick in the Weasley's shop?" Liam asked casually while they were looking for the right couch.

"You mean Hermione?" Liam nodded. "What do you want to know?"

"Is she single, doesn't date, doesn't like guys in general, what's she like." He shrugged again. "I just want to get to know your friends."

Oliver laughed dryly. "Hermione used to be the biggest bookworm and rule stickler you can imagine, but wait until you see her tonight. The girl has definitely eased up. Single, not sure if she's dating but I do know that she prefers guys cause if she didn't it would be her and Ginny all night long."

The couch search continued in silence for a little while. "She's not dating anyone that you know of, is she available?"

"What do you mean 'available'?" Oliver stopped to look at a navy blue couch and matching recliner.

"You know, some girls are single or casually dating but aren't available because they have some other guy on their mind or that they're emotionally attached to."

"Liam, she doesn't do one-night stands." With that Oliver bought the navy couch and recliner and had them sent to his flat.

* * *

Hermione got ready in her flat, donning dark jeans with a strapless green top. She had straightened her hair and parted it on the side giving her face a different shape. A diamond pendant hung around her neck as well as matching stud earrings, a matching set from her parents after she finished Hogwarts. Slipping on the same flats and grabbing her clutch Hermione locked her front door and flooed over to Oliver's flat.

"Hello?" She called stepping out of the fire and noticing the new addition to the living room. "Is anyone here?"

Suddenly a shirtless Oliver appeared from the bedroom. "Hey, I'm really sorry we can't do dinner tonight. I had no idea Liam was stopping by to see me and I didn't want to invite him to your flat without talking to you about it first."

"It's not a problem Oliver, we'll just have to reschedule." Hermione smiled.

"Do you want something to eat before we leave?" He offered. "Get something in your stomach so you don't get sick." The pair went into the cramped kitchen again and Oliver made her a turkey sandwich while she sat on the counter.

"Hello there, I didn't know you were joining us beforehand." Liam walked into the kitchen as well grabbing shot glasses out of the cabinet. "We're having a few drinks before we leave."

Hermione smiled at the man. "I just figured I would arrive with Oliver and you instead of going by myself." She was handed a shot of firewhiskey which she downed with no problem.

Oliver finished his second shot and grinned. "I have a couch now Mia, you can pass out on it whenever you'd like." The girl smiled as she received another shot. "Liam's taking it tonight but you know what I mean." He chuckled.

"Since when did you start calling me Mia?" She asked hopping off the counter and walking into the living room.

"Since the twins call you that so ever affectionately around the shop." The boys followed and sat on the couch as she took the recliner.

The three remained there for awhile before Oliver stood and went to his room.

"Oliver says you used to be a stickler for the rules, but I don't see it." Liam leaned forward from the couch. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "Not many rule mongers I know wear clothes like you do."

Oliver returned into the living room straightening his yellow button down. "Are we ready to go?"

The group left and walked through Diagon Alley to the Leaky Cauldron where they would meet Fred and George. The other three would show up at the club separately.

"You look dashing Mia," George said giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"And you look nothing like a prostitute so I suppose we can take you with us." Fred kissed the other cheek. "Alright gents and Mia let's get going."

One by one the group apparated to the alley outside the club and entered making sure a table big enough for all of them to sit and drink was available. Ron was already sitting at a table and waved them over.

"Wondering where you lot have been," The sour greeting was met when he pointedly looked at the dance floor towards Harry and Ginny dancing. "Been out there since we arrived."

A waitress came around the table for drink orders and the twins started a tab. "The night's on us in honor of Wood's guest." The table toasted and for the second night in a row, everyone was together having fun.


	10. Chapter 10

After another drink Ron left the table to go ask a girl to dance.

"What ever happened with you two?" Oliver asked.

Hermione shrugged. "We just decided that after everything we had been through together no relationship we had would be based on anything but the empathy we had for each other for having to go through what we did."

The night went on with a few more drinks and more dancing. Liam had offered to dance with Hermione and she accepted.

"Ol, why don't you go out there and cut in?" George asked noticing how the Scot kept glaring at his old teammate. "It's obvious you want to be out there with her right now."

Nodding, Oliver ordered another rum and coke and walked out towards the pair. "Mind if I take her for awhile?" Hermione smiled as Oliver replaced the other man behind her and started dancing more fervently.

"He wants to 'see my flat' tonight." Hermione said, noticing how tense Oliver's body got. "I told him that if I go back there tonight I would be alone."

Oliver looked down at the girl. "Why?"

"Because I'm not interested in him that way, I'm not dumb Oliver I know he only wants to shag me." The man laughed knowing how great Hermione had always been when pinpointing personalities.

The pair danced for awhile longer, Hermione had turned around and had her hand on Oliver's shoulder for support. Her face was close to his chin and she could have sworn his lips had grazed her skin a few times. Lowering his face a bit to the side of her head Oliver's warm breath engulfed he ear.

"Stay with me again tonight." He said the hand on Hermione's hip pulling her closer to his body. "We don't even have to do anything, just stay with me." She didn't say anything. She didn't have to. But when the song ended Hermione grabbed Oliver's hand lightly and walked back to the table with him in tow. Liam glared at the both of them thinking they had either lied or conspired against him.

"Another round!" The twins roared over the music presenting shots and more drinks for their friends. "Liam, did Oliver tell you that we're going to your game next month?"

"Hermione's never been to a Puddlemere game so the four of us are taking a day off work to go see the match." The other twin explained. "We think she's pretty excited."

"Well she better be, we're the best team in the league!" Liam and Oliver raised their glasses in a fraternal way and both men beamed, however the fact that Oliver's left hand was still resting on Hermione's lower back did not go past anyone else at the table.

Ginny and Harry were looking back and forth between one another and their flirtatious friends. "Fred and George are right," Ginny said. "They both really do like each other." Harry kissed his girlfriend's neck.

"It'll be nice having another couple around though so everyone doesn't get sick of this," He kissed up her neck to behind the earlobe causing Ginny to gasp a bit.

Fred walked around the table and grabbed his employee's hand. "We're dancing or you're fired!" He yelled over the music winking.

George took the time to sit next to Oliver who had watched the pair leave the table as well as Harry and Ginny and watched Fred dancing like a fool to make the girl laugh.

"She looks great tonight." He took a sip of his drink.

"Not very partial to the color, but it looks good on her." Oliver joked. "She looks much better in red and gold. Like my quidditch jersey, she looks great in that."

The red-head almost spit out the drink in his mouth. Oliver hadn't even realized what he said until George started speaking again. "Did you just say she looks good in your quidditch jersey, as in you've already seen her in it?"

 _Oh, shit._ Oliver thought. _They're going to kill me._ "She came over to my flat after the club last night and I accidentally dropped a piece of pizza on her lap so I gave her something to change into. It's at her flat if you want to go check, so are the clothes with sauce on them."

"Oliver Ryan Wood, if you do anything to hurt Hermione or even to lead her in the wrong direction I will tie you up in our basement and torture you." George had always been particularly close to Hermione since he and Fred were closest in age to her; all the Weasley boys saw her as another sister and would react the same way. "You'll be lucky if I don't tell Bill about it too." Bill was like her father sometimes, Fred had explained that one well enough when a letter from Bill arrived at the shop for Hermione the other day.

"I'm not going to hurt her, I promise. But if I do I give you permission to tell Bill and I'll take the worst you all can give me." The morals Oliver had grown up with were very simple: never disrespect a woman no matter what. Don't hit, talk down to, or use them for any reason. And if you did any of those things, you were at the mercy of the men in her family.

Fred and George knew that and believed that Oliver lived by those with every relationship, even friendships.

"How long have you bloke's known each other?" Liam cut the tension.

"Since 1990," Oliver responded. "That's when they started playing quidditch at Hogwarts. Of course, the contact hasn't always been constant it's been a tad less than frequent. Whatever word you'd like to use for that."

Hermione and Fred returned in fits of laughter. "That was the most ridiculous dancing I've ever seen." She spit out in between breaths. "I'm not even sure I want to know where you learned them."

Harry and Ginny stopped back at the table as well. "We're going to leave, it's getting late." Everyone looked at their watches. "Let us know what we owe you for drinks." With a chorus of good-byes the couple left.

"I wonder where Ronnikins ran off to." Fred mused surveying the club. "Wait I see him! In the corner snogging the hell out of the blonde he bought a drink for." The group laughed at the show Ron was putting on in the corner. "It is getting late though," Fred and George stood and finished their drinks. "We're going to close the tab and head out, remember we have work bright and early tomorrow kiddies."

The final three nursed the rest of their drinks and decided to leave shortly after, making their way to the alley and apparating back to the Leaky Cauldron. Oliver had snaked his arm around Hermione's waist to keep both of them stable, but leaned down to whisper to her. "We'll drop you off at your flat if you want to apparate over in a bit." The warm breath on her neck made Hermione blush again, giving Oliver a solid yes.

Walking through the residential district the men dropped Hermione off at her building, bidding her good night and in Liam's case a nice to meet you. Continuing towards Oliver's flat Liam hiccupped. "Thanks for letting me stay tonight, I know the surprise probably ruined plans but it's just not the same without you."

Oliver chuckled as he opened the door to his building. "I had dinner plans but it's no big deal." He stumbled up the flights of stairs and opened the door. "You want anything to eat or drink?"

"Nah, I'm just gonna pass out." Liam slipped off his shoes and curled up with the pillow and blanket that had been laid out before they left.

Going to the kitchen Oliver grabbed three glasses and filled them up with water. Taking one out and leaving it by Liam, he took the other two back to his room and set them on the nightstand. Oliver then grabbed a pair of mesh shorts and began changing into them, after taking off the button down he head a distinct pop, the sound would go unnoticed to a muggle but after apparating all the time a wizard knew the sound very well.

Not even turning around Oliver smiled. "I didn't think you would be here that quickly." He said unbuttoning his jeans and dropping them to the floor, replacing them with his shorts.

"But you were nice enough to bring me water." When Oliver turned around he smiled. "It was only fitting to wear it to bed again tonight."

With one leg outstretched and the other bent at the knee, Oliver had never seen any girl wear a jersey like Hermione Granger. Running a hand up the extended leg he noticed how smooth her skin was and continued the journey up her body on top of the jersey until he reached her neck.

"I figured you would appreciate some water so you didn't dry out in your sleep." He was talking in a low voice, as if to not wake up his passed out friend. For Oliver Wood this tone was what drove women crazy, and he was hoping that it would work now just to see how she would react.

"I appreciate more than just water." Hermione responded setting the glass back on the table and placing her hand on top of his.

"Like what?" Oliver asked taking another step closer to the head of the bed.

"A good book, a warm bed, and a man who knows how to really kiss a girl."

Smiling Oliver bowed down to her level with his lips brush the skin of her neck. "That sounds like it came straight from a book."

"Maybe it did," Hermione answered her hand still holding his. "Maybe I just thought it fit me perfectly."

"And why would you think that?" Oliver's lips and hot breath were making Hermione start to lose her breath but she didn't want the feeling to end.

"Because I really do appreciate those things."

Oliver removed his lips from the girl's neck and climbed onto the bed positioning himself between Hermione's legs. "I guess you'll have to let me know how much you appreciate tonight then." He growled into the other side of her neck leaving kisses behind her earlobe and down her collarbone.

Hermione's hands were roaming the statuesque arm and back of the ex-quidditch player and she could feel every muscle his body had. The grip got stronger when Oliver hit a particularly sensitive place, it only made him smile more. His hands were busy propping his body up and feeling Hermione's smooth leg one more time, the soft lips of his still not reaching hers but leaving kisses everywhere else they could.

"You know our bosses are anticipating this, right?" He asked still focused on the neck area.

"I figured they were," Hermione breathed the words, not being able to actually speak. "They aren't very subtle when it comes to things like this." Moving her head around Hermione finally captured Oliver's lips and the pair's passion ignited into a fury of kisses and with hands wandering around the others body neither of them missing a chance to grab and squeeze when the kiss was particularly heated.

It was Oliver that finally pulled away a long time later. "I think that since we're both kind of drunk we shouldn't do much more right now."

"I agree," Hermione was trying to catch her breath, her hair covering the entire pillow. "We should probably go to bed too. We have work in the morning." She giggled a bit as Oliver kissed her good-night and curled up behind her holding her body close.


	11. Chapter 11

When Hermione woke up the next morning it was with a smile and a heavy feeling on her chest. Looking over she realized that Oliver had spread out across the entire bed and draped his arm over her midsection and it took a little bit of maneuvering to get out of the bed without waking him up.

After walking out of the bed room Hermione stopped by the bathroom to leave a note for Oliver, _Sorry to leave before you woke but I had to get ready for work. See you soon. P.S. I'm keeping your jersey._ Smiling to herself in the mirror that was now adorned with her note and exited the room making her way towards the living room so she could apparate.

"When did you get here?" She heard from the couch. Whirling around her jaw dropped as Liam propped himself up on one elbow and rubbed his eyes. "And is that what you always wear to bed, las?" He asked cheekily. Embarrassed, Hermione apparated on the spot to her flat and quickly jumped in the shower.

A few hours later Oliver walked into the shop and sauntered over towards Hermione who was reading a magazine behind the register.

"So, I heard you got caught leaving this morning." He whispered noticing her cheeks get a tinge of pink in them. "I also hear you're keeping my favorite article of clothing." The pair laughed quietly as their bosses walked out of the back room.

"Good morning employees!" One of them said loudly, hoping they would be hung over. When neither flinched at the sound of his yell the twins both looked disappointed. "We have tons of stuff to put on the shelves today so you're going to be working both the floor and the register today."

Hermione sat down the magazine acting as if this was something she was used to. Oliver took the time to notice she was wearing a Gryffindor red shirt and had straightened her hair so it fell down her back, it looked silky and smooth. Oliver wanted desperately to run his fingers through it.

"Oi, Oliver!" George snapped his fingers in front of the older boys face. "I asked if you could help me bring some boxes out." George's smirk told him he had been caught staring, and taking a final glance towards the brunette he noticed she and Fred were whispering.

"Hermione, how much do you know about quidditch?" Fred asked grinning.

She started feeling uneasy about the question, mainly because she knew Fred and knew that nothing good could come of it. "Enough to enjoy it but not over analyze it like you and your siblings do." She bit her lip, it was something she did when something entirely different was on her mind. "Do I dare ask why?"

"My dear twin and I wanted to make sure that you at least understood how the game worked before we got there. It's not much fun if you need to keep explaining everything." The pair laughed and started helping with boxes, Oliver's very audible sigh of relief as they walked in the back room was more than comical for the twins and only able to speculate Hermione rolled her eyes.

The rest of the day was filled with playful banter between the four and more than a few flirtatious remarks from Oliver and when the employees went to leave the store Fred called out "Remember dinner at the Burrow tonight. Mum won't be pleased if you don't show up."

"Guess this means we have to re-reschedule our dinner." Hermione laughed.

"Well, it's only five-thirty. Want to just wander around the alley before going to the Burrow?" Hermione nodded and smiled slightly. She enjoyed the company from someone who wasn't a Weasley and wasn't trying to get close to her for the fame, but she would never admit that.

While she was lost in her thoughts, Hermione's foot got caught on a cobblestone and she started to fall. Thankfully, Oliver's quidditch honed reflexes reacted before she met the ground and wrapping his arms around her he pulled her into a standing position again.

"You okay?" He asked, worry in his eyes. Hermione nodded. "You sure? It just doesn't seem like you to space out and trip all over yourself." He laughed, the pair noticed that the muscular arm was still wrapped around her waist but neither moved to change that.

"Just thinking," She smiled. "Something I do often."

The pair wandered into Flourish and Blotts, one of Hermione's favorite stores and instantly she was in her element. The glint in her eye was something that made Oliver smile and he watched as she gently ran her fingers across the spines of the books skimming each title for something that caught her eye. After awhile of this Hermione joined her friend in the quidditch section of the store. "Ready?" She asked.

"But we've only been here for like, twenty minutes. There wasn't anything that caught your interest?" A smiled tugged at his lips again.

"There was plenty, but it is a book shop and I could spend my entire life savings in here. Besides I didn't want to bore you to death as I looked through a bunch of different books."

Oliver slung his arm across her narrow shoulders, "Granger, I don't think there's anything you could do to bore me."

Eventually the pair apparated to the Burrow and joined the rest of the family in the kitchen. Hermione helped Molly with food and Oliver sat at the table with Arthur and Bill.

"Oliver dear, you never did tell us what happened with Katie? Are you still living with her?" Molly asked innocently not noticing that both Hermione and Oliver tensed at the question.

"Well, we were living together but she was cheating on me while I was traveling with the team." Arthur clapped him on the shoulder and Molly apologized.

"I'm sorry dear," she said a sad look on her face. "But at least you have Hermione to empathize with on that subject."

 _Molly just has no idea when you stop talking does she?_ Hermione thought to herself. Now she would get questioned, she was sure of it.

The uncomfortable silence led Molly to apologize again to Hermione who shrugged it off trying not to make it such a big deal. Thankfully the rest of the Weasley clan arrived and as the girls put dinner on the table everyone squeezed around it and dug in. Coincidentally Hermione and Oliver were sitting across the table from each other.

Dinner was definitely a Weasley affair with yelling, laughing, and lots of joking. The favorite target of the night was Oliver mainly because he was the newbie. Bill, Ron, and Harry had been jealous when they heard that WWW was going to the Puddlemere game in the next month and automatically asked if they would be hired as well.

As the night wore on the dishes were cleared and the mood had leveled so everyone was content and before they knew it, the time had flown by.

"We should probably be going." Fred stood up followed by George. "Thanks for dinner mum, and don't forget kiddies we have work in the morning."

Everyone said their good byes after that and after Molly had refused to let Hermione help clean anything else she gave the girl a big hug and whispered apologies in her ear again.

"Molly, it's fine. Not something I've made a habit of announcing but no harm no foul." The women smiled. "Thank you for another wonderful dinner."

"Well I have to make sure you've been eating well." She winked and went over to hug Oliver good bye.

As Oliver walked out into the yard he noticed Hermione staring up into the night sky.

"Lost in your thoughts again?" He asked softly walking up next to her. She nodded in response. "Shall we go?" Oliver held out his arm and smiled as Hermione took it.

In the kitchen Arthur wrapped his arms around his wife and smiled as she stared out the window.

"The twinkle in your eye gave it away, you know." He said kissing her cheek. "I'm sure the twins had already said something about that bugger in front of Oliver anyhow."


	12. Chapter 12

The next few weeks flew by and between work and dinners at the Burrow, Hermione and Oliver hadn't been able to set a night for their dinner.

It wasn't a surprise that the twins had made sure to keep the pair working on projects together at the shop. Or, on the opposite side of the spectrum they would try to keep their employees apart for most of the day and see if it changed anything in their moods.

Either they felt nothing for each other, or Hermione and Oliver were extremely great actors.

The night before the Puddlemere game the shop closed as usual and Hermione and Oliver walked through Diagon Alley towards the residential district like they did every night.

"What are you going tonight?" Hermione asked, her hands shoved deep into her jean pockets.

"What do you have in mind?" Oliver nudged her with his elbow in a playful manner. "Are we finally going to have our dinner?"

Hermione nodded. "My place, say half an hour?" Oliver nodded and watched her walk into her building before apparating to his own flat.

When he arrived Oliver quickly ran to the bathroom and cleaned himself up. Made sure his hair was flat, brushed his teeth, changed his shirt (the yellow tee shirt he had worn to work was rather sweaty from all the manual labor), and put some deodorant on. The whole ordeal had taken him about twenty minutes and in an effort to not keep Hermione waiting he grabbed a bottle of wine from the kitchen and apparated to the hallway of her apartment.

When she opened the door, Oliver noticed Hermione had done the same thing has he had. The black fitted tee shirt she had worn to work was replaced with a nicer looking maroon shirt and it looked like she had applied some make up.

"Something smells delicious," He noted walking into the flat. "What are we having?"

Hermione smiled as she returned to her small kitchen. "It's chicken cacciatore." She stirred everything around in the pan as he set the bottle of wine on the counter. "Glasses are above the fridge," She said pointing. "You didn't have to bring anything you know."

"Yeah, but I figured what's a nice dinner without some wine and since you were making said dinner I thought I would supply the wine." Oliver winked at her pouring the two of them each a glass and handing it to her.

Dinner had gone well; half of the wine had disappeared as well.

"Did you have a good time?" He asked taking a sip. They had moved to her couch which was actually more of a love seat. "Since it took us a month and a half to have this night." They laughed.

Hermione smiled again, _Why does looking at him always make me smile?_ She silently asked herself. "I did have a good time, compliments to the chef." She said jokingly. The pair fell into a comfortable silence before Oliver interjected.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," Hermione looked up at him. "It's come up a couple times and I know it's probably something you don't want to talk about but I am curious." The rambling wasn't helping him get the question out any easier. "Who hurt you so badly that all of the Weasley's want to burn him at the stake?"

Silence. He had expected that and wanted to make it clear that she didn't have to answer. "I'm sorry Mia, I just wanted-"

"No, it's fine. Everyone else knows I was kind of wondering when you would ask." She took a deep breath. "I was in the Leaky Cauldron with the twins when I had just started working there like three years ago. This guy walked up and started flirting with me and eventually asked me out to dinner, I said yes and we went out a few times. Eventually we were seeing each other almost every day, he would bring me lunch or join us for dinners and after a year he asked me to move in with him. I was still living at the Burrow at the time so it was a welcome change, everyone liked him and he enjoyed the family dinners. Well, I left work early one day to surprise him with lunch only to get to the flat we shared and walk in on him shagging some girl who kept repeating "You have a girlfriend" to which he would reply "It's only for the fame." So I packed up all my belongings and left, I went straight back to work and the twins closed the shop early because I was so hysterical." Downing the rest of her glass Hermione felt ashamed. "I had hoped that after school I would keep away from all the fame and that's why I didn't take a Ministry job, I didn't even want to take a Head of Department job that had my name written all over it because I was sick of everyone watching my every move." Oliver stared at her for awhile, listening to her story. "It was just horrible thinking I was in love with someone for two and a half years and to them it was all about being known."

Oliver scoffed as she laughed shaking her head.

"We never even got mentioned in the paper." That set her off, the laughter was contagious and soon Oliver was in stitches too. "But, that was a year ago and even though none of the Weasley's will let it go, I'm over it. He's tried to contact me but I just burn every letter he sends and if he comes in the shop one of the twins intervenes."

She finally looked up and met her eyes with Oliver's, he hadn't realized that throughout the story he had leaned forward to hang on her every word and there were only a few inches between them. Without much thought, he closed the gap and caught her lips with his running his hand through her hair. Hermione, much to his surprise moved over and straddled his lap deepening the kiss in the process.

"This guy really fucked up. " Oliver said as they broke away for a breath. "Especially if you kissed him like that." Hermione giggled and went back to kissing him.

When they woke up the next morning neither had remember much about getting into the bedroom. Their steamy make out session had gotten more intense by the minute and looking around the room they could see that they had gotten each other mostly naked for more skin to cover with each other's lips. They hadn't had sex, but the way the room looked if anyone else were to walk in there wouldn't be convincing them otherwise.

"I should probably go get dressed for the game," Oliver stood and located his jeans on the other side of the room. "Of course, we have time for breakfast if you want to come over to my place." He offered hopefully.

Hermione nodded and kissed him good bye before jumping in the shower.

_Oh, the twins are just going to know something's up._


	13. Chapter 13

When Oliver got back to his flat he jumped in the shower, Hermione's story still ran through his mind and all he wanted to do was beat this guy to a bloody pulp. _I'll have to ask for a name so I know if he ever comes in the shop._

After a few more moments of rinsing soap off his body Oliver turned the water off and magically dried himself off. Grabbing the jeans and Puddlemere jersey he had brought into the bathroom with him and throwing the clothes on the Scot made his way into the kitchen and started cracking eggs into a frying pan. The fire went off in the other room and Hermione made her way into the small room.

"Long time no see," She flirted walking past him to the refrigerator. "Anything you want me to do?"

"Could you set the table? And maybe get the orange juice out." The smile on his face was starting to hurt but it took all he had to frown. _The things this girl makes me feel._

Hermione had returned for the silverware and noticed the grimace on his face as he tried not to smile. "Something wrong Oliver?"

"What? Oh, I just had a question and I don't really want to upset you on a day as joyous as this." Shaking his head the last of the eggs and toast were put onto their plates.

"Go ahead and ask me, I'm sure I'll be cheerful in a bit." The brown-eyed girl said as she buttered her toast.

Taking a moment to notice her looks Oliver sighed, she had straightened her long hair and parted it on the side, the minimal make-up she wore only made her eye color pop out more and Oliver loved it. "I was just wondering if that jackass you call an ex had a name." Hermione's movements slowed. "Only so that if I ever see him I can personally curse him."

"It's Brian McElroy," She smiled at the last comment and the pair finished their breakfast with talk about the game.

Around ten o'clock they left for the shop so everyone could leave by ten thirty. When everyone was finally assembled in the back room Fred and George exchanged a look that even their mother couldn't interpret but Oliver and Hermione both knew it only meant trouble.

"Why are we here so early?" Hermione asked when the portkey had finally let them land near the quidditch pitch. "The game doesn't start for another hour."

"So Ollie can introduce us to the rest of his team mates of course," George slung an arm over the young girls shoulder and smiled devilishly.

"And so we can get autographs and pictures of course," Fred continued, a smile plastered on his face as he skipped across the field towards the lockers.

Oliver shook his head. "You know I'll have to make sure it's alright with the coach, right?"

"Of course we do Ollie boy, but we brought our secret weapon."

"That being?" He responded, a confused look marring his gorgeous features only to be replaced with humor as the red-heads both looked pointedly at Hermione.

The brunettes made their way (one of them after a very convincing refusal) towards the head office. "Hey coach," Oliver knocked and stuck his head in the room greeted with a firm handshake and a clap on the shoulder.

"Oliver! How have you been? Have a seat." The coach ushered the man into the room, not taking notice of Hermione yet.

"I'm fine," He answered offering a seat to Hermione first. "This is Hermione Granger; I work with her at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes." The coach stuck a hand out towards her. "We came on a work outing, and our bosses really would like to meet the team. I know that fans aren't normally let into the lockers but I hoped that maybe you could at least let me in to wish them luck."

The coach leaned forward a smile on his face. "Anything for you Wood, your friends are allowed in this locker room anytime. I'm sure the lads will agree this one especially," He pointed to Hermione and gave her a smile. "I'd keep an eye on her in there if I were you."

Saying their thanks as they left the office Fred and George ran over. "What did he say?" Fred asked nearly jumping in the air with anticipation.

"I'm the best keeper Puddlemere has seen in a century of course he said we could go see the team." The joke slid easily off Wood's tongue as the boys high-fived. Leading the way into the room Oliver walked in first announcing they had visitors and making sure no one was completely nude.

After the rounds of greetings from his old team mates Oliver introduced the three standing behind him. "These are my bosses Fred and George Weasley, and this is my coworker Hermione Granger." There was another round of introductions (not needed for the twins) and some shouts about Hermione not only being Oliver's coworker.

The twins took photos with almost everyone on the team, staging crazy poses as well as fake fights. Hermione, as expected got many looks and even some advances from the team but each time the WWW boys would make them leave her alone.

Eventually the four left the locker room and made their way to the stadium where they got seats high up in the stands.

"Having fun yet?" Oliver whispered into Hermione's ear as they walked to their seats. She nodded. "I'm glad we convinced Fred and George to do this." The girl turned towards him as she sat on her bench and winked at him. _Well that was a bold move, in front of the bosses and everything._ Oliver gave a crooked smiled in return and started cheering as the teams were announced.

Hours later the group left excitedly after a tremendous Puddlemere win over the Tornadoes.

"Did you see how Jones crashed into the chaser?" George asked as he rammed into his twin cause Fred to fall dramatically to the ground. George ran around the group with his arms held high in victory.

Getting back to the portkey stations the group grabbed a hold of their brick and were transported back to the shop.

"See you lot in the morning." Fred waved and waited for the pair to leave the store before locking the door.

Making their way to the residential section just as always Oliver got a rush of confidence and reached out for Hermione small hand to take in his own, the girl looked up smiling as she laced their fingers together.

"Do you think that maybe you would like to go out for a proper date sometime?" Hermione smiled again.

"I would love to, it's only fitting since it took us an entire month to plan our first dinner." They had reached her building and all the pair could do was look into each other's eyes. "Pick the time and place and I'll be there."

Oliver leaned down and kissed her good night watching as she walked into the building. _This girl will be the death of me._ He thought happily.

* * *

A few weeks passed and the same routine went on for the employees; jobs working together, jobs working apart, free time together, errands to run, dinners at the Burrow, dinners with the twins, and nights at the pub. It seemed as though the pair had no time to enjoy the feel of each other's skin.

One day Oliver was in the back room unpacking boxes of products so they could be taken out to the shelves. Hermione was at the register and the twins were busy at Gringotts with deposits.

The day had gone relatively slow and towards dinner time Oliver had heard Hermione calmly talking to someone out front.

"I SAID LISTEN TO ME!" Came a male voice, without hesitation Oliver ran out to see a red-faced Hermione and a man no taller than he was.

"Is there a problem here?" The Scot asked knowing the answer.

"Mind your own business," The man across the counter spat out, seething. "This is between me and Hermione."

Oliver stepped forward, partially blocking the girl. "Not when you yell at her, then it becomes my business." Standing at his full height Brian was just as tall as Oliver but there was no comparison in toned muscles as Oliver won that with no contest.

"And what are you to her?" A laugh escaped the man's lips.

"Someone who cares about her, which is more than you've ever been so how about to turn around and leave." Even though his blood was boiling inside Oliver's tone was kept even.

The bell above the door rang and suddenly there were two more voices. "I thought we asked you to never come back in here," Brian turned around to face the twins, both looking murderous. "Having scum like you in here is bad for business you know."

"Like business is great here," Everyone knew the insult was obviously not true.

"Fred, I think it's time we charmed the door to kick unwanted people back into the street."

"I think you're right George, only fitting that someone who only wants to terrorize our employee isn't allowed back."

Everyone was silent for a moment before Oliver finally lost his temper. "Am I going to have to kick your ass out myself?" Brian turned towards him, an angry glint in his eyes. "Leave or get ready to meet the mediwitches at St. Mungos."

With a snarl Brian left, but not without another hurtful glance in Hermione's direction. The twins had followed him to the door and purposefully locked it.

"Hermione-" Without another word the girl threw her arms around Oliver's middle and started sobbing into his chest. Holding her close and whispering consoling words in her ear Oliver had never wanted to punch someone more than he did at the moment. The pair stayed like that for a few moments before finally Hermione pulled away and dried her eyes.

"Thank you," She said in a small voice. "I tried to get him to leave but he just stood there throwing insults at me."

"He won't be coming back here," George said giving the girl a quick hug.

"We promise. " Fred finished also hugging her. "We should get going soon or else mum will send a search party after us."

Making sure there were no more tear streak down her cheeks Hermione made her way over to the fireplace. "You look beautiful." Oliver told her before he kissed her cheek and disappeared in the floo. She was rooted in the spot for a moment, a smile forming before finally she decided to make her way to the Burrow as well.

"Hermione," Ginny ran over to hug her best friend. "We were starting to worry about you." The red-head let go of her. "What's wrong?"

Shaking her brown curls Hermione tried not to look too hurt. "Just Brian again," Ginny's eyes burned with hate. "Thank Merlin Oliver was there or else I don't know what would have happened. "

"Yes, thank Merlin for Oliver." A knowing grin was evident on her face. "Let's go eat before it gets cold."


	14. Chapter 14

After dinner Hermione said her thanks to Mrs. Weasley before making her way into the living room and towards the fireplace. She really wanted to spend time with everyone but she just didn't feel like being under everyone's watchful eye all night knowing that she would already be checked on several times within the next twenty-four hours.

Back at her flat she wasted no time changing out of her jeans and throwing on a long t-shirt before climbing into her bed. It was uncomfortable without her human body pillow but she would survive one night, and she really did need to be alone right now. While sleep didn't take over for a few more hours Hermione knew that dwelling on her crazy ex-boyfriend would not help any situation and instead started thinking about Oliver and their upcoming date.

The next morning at work Oliver walked up to the counter. "So when are you free for our date?"

To say Hermione was surprised was a slight understatement. She had expected him to come towards her asking if she was alright and if she needed to talk about the incident, at least that's what the twins would have done. "I'm free tomorrow if you are." Smiling the girl boldly leaned toward the boy.

"Hey Mia," George walked out from the back room not noticing how Oliver and Hermione had sprang apart from each other. "Could you run over these numbers quickly, I think I made a mistake."

The rest of the day went without a hitch, Hermione and Oliver hadn't been caught staring at each other but were sure to only take quick glances while the twins were around.

"Alright lads, I'm off." Oliver waved as he left the shop noticing that one of the twins locked the door behind him.

"Spill Mia," George stood in front of her with his arms crossed, Fred stood behind her in the same fashion. "We know something's going on."

The brunette had become a very convincing liar during the war and hadn't lost her touch since. The only person who knew she was lying for the most part was Ginny. "What is it you want me to talk about boys? I haven't kept anything from you." She responded innocently.

"Granger we know there's something going on between you and our newest hire and we want to know what exactly it is." The mischievous look on the boy's faces showed that she had obviously been figured out.

"We're going on a date tomorrow night, happy?" Sighing she closed the register and threw the deposit bag at the nearest twin.

Fred blocked her way. "But what about the looks you've been giving each other for the past few weeks?"

"Since he took you home from the club to be exact."

Hermione set her hands on the hips that had stuck out from under her t-shirt. "So we've been looking at each other, is that so bad? You two have been trying to do everything in your power to set us up anyway."

"But we didn't think it would actually happen!" One of them cried. "We thought you would fight it and be disgusted and then yell at us for it."

"So what you're telling me is that you tried to set Oliver and I up together covertly and what you really wanted was for me to reject him and get angry with you?" The confusion could not be masked in her voice, those boys were tireless sometimes.

"That's how it always goes!"

Hermione shrugged, "Sorry."

This caused the twins to look at each other, "How serious is it?"

"Oh, uhm, well tomorrow is our first official date but we've had dinner with each other before and we've been spending a lot of time together." The question had thrown Hermione completely off and after the words came out she already knew the damage was done. "Don't go off and do what you always do, please."

"But we have to, especially to our dear old friend." The twins grinned and apparated out of the store, leaving Hermione all alone.

* * *

Oliver heard two simultaneous pops in his living room, and knowing that it could only be the twins he sighed.

"What can I do for you?" He asked sarcastically walking towards the couch.

"You can sit and answer our questions."

"Questions?" The twins nodded pushing him into the corner of the couch. "About what?"

"Firstly we would like to ask what your intentions are with Hermione."

Oliver was confused _How could they know?_ "I'm not entirely sure right now guys, it's not even like we've gone on an official date yet."

"That's tomorrow night, correct?" Oliver nodded. "And what do you think is going to happen after dinner?"

The brown-haired boy sighed. "I hadn't thought that far. Maybe come back to one of our flats and have a drink or two." All he got were two sets of eyes staring into his soul. "I'm not going to take advantage of her if that's what you mean."

"Good, secondly: you know Bill and Charlie will have a more in depth interrogation after they hear about this. They treat her like they treat Ginny, and they are very protective of their sisters."

Oliver gulper, he hadn't been expecting the oldest Weasley's to be so protective of Hermione or even to interrogate their old friend. "Let's not tell them until we're sure Hermione and I actually have something serious going on."

The boys nodded and apparated out of the flat. _This is going to be a disaster._

* * *

At work the next day Hermione and Oliver were kept separated by doing different tasks all day, after the shop had closed for the night the pair walked hand-in-hand towards their flats.

"So what time are you picking me up?" Hermione asked as they reached her building.

Brushing some hair away from her face Oliver kept his hand on her smooth cheek. "Reservation is at eight, so seven-thirty?"

Nodding Hermione leaned forward and captured the man's lips with her own. "See you then."

After the door closed behind her Hermione ran through her flat tearing clothes off the hanger and picking an outfit. She had meant to do that last night but fell asleep reading a book instead. After choosing a navy blue dress with strappy white heels she jumped in the shower, she had decided that her hair would be wavy and her make-up would be minimal. Ginny had always said that the natural look was always the way to go. Just as Hermione was applying her lip gloss she heard the distinct popping noise of apparation.

"Charlie?" She asked walking into the living room. "What are you doing here?"

The older Weasley stood frozen in the spot. "I was here to see if you wanted to come get a drink with Bill and I but it seems as though you've already got plans." Looking at the way she was dressed Charlie crossed his arms. "You're going on a date." He said critically. "Who is it?"

"Charlie, stop. Yes I'm going on a date but it's nothing you should be worried about. Honestly, I'm a grown woman." Watching as Charlie's ears turned red Hermione smiled. "He'll be here any moment. Go have fun with Bill I'll see you at dinner tomorrow."

"You look great Hermione." And With a hug Charlie apparated away leaving the living room empty, not long after there was a knock at the door.

"Ready to go?" Beamed Oliver as the door was opened for him. "Ah, these are for you." He held out half a dozen lilies.

Hermione's smile got wider. "Oliver, you shouldn't have." Conjuring up a vase and water Hermione set them in the middle of her table. "And don't you look handsome. It's like you're going on a date or something." She had closed the distance between them and gave the Scot a soft kiss on the lips.

"And you look marvelous as well." The husky voice and hot breath that reached Hermione's ear made her shiver with delight. "We should be going though, don't want to keep you hungry." The pair apparated away, not noticing the pair of eyes peeking out through the guest bedroom.

When they finally left Diagon Alley Oliver led them towards a small restaurant a few blocks down from the Leaky Cauldron. It seemed quaint but when you walked inside the atmosphere was wonderful, the smells coming from the kitchen made your mouth water, the lights were dimmed above the tables to set the mood, and there was some music playing.

"Do you have a reservation?" The hostess asked smiling politely.

"Yes, for two. It should be under Oliver Wood." The aforementioned man squeezed Hermione's hand lightly and winked before being led to their table. "So, tell me something I don't already know about you." Oliver said picking up the menu.

Smiling devilishly, Hermione continued to scan the menu. "In my fourth year I dated Viktor Krum." She knew that by mentioning that she knew Viktor, Oliver would be jealous. And he was.

"You mean you got to meet The Viktor Krum? The Bulgarian seeker?" Hermione nodded. "And you dated him?" She nodded again. "Granger I never thought that you had a type, it seems I'm just a passing fling. You have met my team mates after all." Winking again at her Oliver hoped she knew he was only kidding.

"Oh, how did you know? I was truly only trying to put a notch in my wand with you Oliver, next up that Felix fellow for the Arrows."

The night went on like that, joking with each other and enjoying the food. After they had finished the meal Oliver paid the bill and they left.

"What do you say we go back to my place and have a few glasses of wine?" Hermione offered smirking up at Oliver.


	15. Chapter 15

The walk back to Hermione's flat was full of laughter and smiles as the pair meandered through the streets hand in hand. Diagon Alley was quiet at that time of the night, so the footsteps on the cobblestones echoed and laughter reverberated off the buildings.

By the time the pair walked into Hermione's flat they were red in the face.

"Wine?" She asked walking into the kitchen and grabbing two glasses. "Tonight was a lot of fun," Pouring the wine and handing one to Oliver the pair sat on the couch.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," Smiling to himself Oliver took a sip of the drink. "Does that mean we can go out again sometime?"

Hermione smiled and drank her wine, only raising her eyebrows in response. Oliver leaned towards her and placed a soft kiss on her lips, placing both wine glasses on the table next to the couch the muscular man pulled his small date onto his lap to deepen the kiss.

"You know," Oliver spoke in between kissing down Hermione's soft neck. "The twins came by today and interrogated me. They said that I should be more worried about Charlie and Bill."

Sighing, Hermione ran her fingers through the sandy brown hair of the man she was sitting on. "They're all like my brothers, Fred and George made sure I had a job so I could have money to spend and a place to live, and Bill and Charlie take care of me."

"What do you mean, they take care of you?" Oliver laughed, thinking that the girl who helped defeat the biggest villain in the wizarding world needed to be taken care of.

"I mean they protect me, they make sure that my crazy ex doesn't terrorize me anymore." Staring into Oliver's green eyes, Hermione laughed again. "Charlie actually stopped by right before you got here and asked if I wanted to get drinks with him and Bill."

"I bet he was suspicious," The look in Oliver's eyes was full of worry. "No doubt I'll be getting interrogated again at the next family dinner."

Stopping the rest of the conversation with her lips, Hermione sighed. "Don't worry about it for right now, let's just enjoy this moment."

* * *

Walking into work the next morning early for inventory Hermione and Oliver were separated instantly.

"How was your date Mia?" George asked pulling out boxes. "Charlie said you looked really nice by the way,"

"It was fine, dinner was delicious and then we had some wine at my flat."

"And did Oliver go home last night?"

Hermione picked up a box and winked. "I guess you'll never know."

Meanwhile, up in the twins flat Fred was asking similar questions to Oliver.

It was going to be a long day.

After work was finished and the shop was locked up, the four flooed to the Burrow Hermione walked into the kitchen to help with food.

"You're evil leaving him in there with all the boys." Ginny whispered after seeing Hermione's smirk.

Everyone had vacated to the upstairs except for Bill, Charlie, and Oliver who all sat and stared at each other. The tension in the room was palpable, but Oliver tried to keep it from getting awkward.

"Hermione was awfully dressed up last night Bill," Charlie was cleaning under his finger nails. "Said she had a date but wouldn't tell me who it was with."

"Good thing we have twin brothers who are known for their loose lips." Both smirking, the older Weasley's turned towards Oliver. "So how about you tell us what you two did last night."

Being a professional quidditch player was nerve racking, but having to deal with the older brothers, or pseudo brothers, that the Weasley's portrayed was making Oliver more nervous than any game he played.

"I took her to a nice dinner, and then we went back to her place for some wine."

The boys nodded. "Did you stay the night?"

"We're both adults, whether or not we stay the night together is our own choice."

"You must have some big balls to be able to say that to us," Bill leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees.

"William Arthur! Don't use that language in my house!" Molly Weasley stood in the doorway with hands on her hips. "Dinner is ready boys, Charlie get the rest of your brothers."

Smirking as he left, Charlie ran upstairs and drug his siblings down for dinner. Bill clapped Oliver on the back, "Don't take offence to it mate, we're just making sure she's not getting sucked into the psycho boyfriend thing again."

Dinner that night was less tense than Hermione had thought it would be. The only people now who didn't know she and Oliver had been seeing each other were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, but of course that wasn't going to last very long.

"So where did you say you took Mia last night Oliver?" Charlie's question caused Mrs. Weasley's head to turn so quickly it almost fell off.

"Are you saying they went on a date last night, Charlie?" Hermione groaned as the second eldest Weasley nodded the affirmative to his mother. "Oh that's wonderful dears! Now when can we expect a wedding invitation?"

"Thanks a lot Charlie," The snarl that Hermione let out was almost as scary as Ginny's to the boys, but they just kept laughing as their mother pestered the couple with questions.

"Actually mum, they've been together for quite some time, they only just went on an official date last night." Fred interjected causing two set of eyes to glare at him.

"Oh Hermione dear, why didn't you tell us?" Mrs. Weasley was so excited for her adopted daughter that she hadn't stopped to think about the reactions of her kids.

The table laughed. "Same reason I didn't tell you about Fleur until I had to," Bill winked in Hermione's direction as he said this.

"And about me and Alicia."

"And me and Luna."

Everyone stopped and stared at Ron whose ears were now the color of raspberries. The silence was overwhelming before finally everyone snapped and started asking a million questions all at once.

Oliver chuckled as he leaned to whisper in Hermione's ear, "I guess we're off the hook for awhile."

After leaving the Burrow, Hermione and Oliver went their separate ways to enjoy a night in their own beds. The next morning brought an early rise for Oliver when Hermione apparated right into his bedroom.

"Oliver, wake up. We've got a problem." Handing over a copy of the Daily Prophet Hermione sat cross legged across from him.

"Retired quidditch player, Oliver Wood has been spotted numerous times with Harry Potter's best friend and accomplice in defeating Lord Voldemort, Hermione Granger."

Hermione nodded when Oliver gave her a confused look, "There's more."

"The pair have been working together at Weasley Wizard Wheeze's, a joke shop run by their mutual friends Fred and George Weasley since Wood's early retirement from Puddlemere United. However, the shock comes when several Prophet readers sent in tips about Granger and Wood kiss each other outside their flats, or simply go into one, and not leave. On Saturday night the couple was spotted eating dinner together at a very nice restaurant in London. It is safe to assume that this love affair has been going on for quite some time, but their employers refused to speak of the rumors circulating their employees." The pair sat in silence for a few moments while the words sank in. "I guess it was only a matter of time," Oliver said stretching his tired muscles. "We are two very famous people in England, and it's not like we were being very secretive about this."

Hermione was shocked. "You're not worried about this at all?"

"Why would I be? I'm happy, it seems as though you were happy before reading this, and it's not like either one of us is married or underage. We're adults and we can have a relationship if we want." Pulling Hermione into his lap Oliver kissed her softly. "I'm not going to let a newspaper ruin my happiness with you."

"I just wanted to keep my private life private, you know?" Hermione was very interested in the hem of her night shirt, which just happened to be Oliver's jersey. "I tried to stay out of the spotlight and I guess I just thought the reporters had forgotten about me and would leave me alone."

The words hit home for Oliver, "You think it's my fault."

Looking like a deer in headlights Hermione shook her head. "No, that's not at all what I'm thinking. Don't even try to put those words in my mouth Oliver Wood because that is not at all where I was going with this!"

"Then where were you going with it?" Trying to keep his voice as calm as possible, Oliver took a deep breath and waited for her explanation.

Hermione smiled sweetly at the man she had been with for the last few months. "I was just thinking that it's different than what I'd gotten used to. After school the papers watched every move Harry made and since Ron and I were with him most of the time we would get barricaded in places or couldn't leave the Burrow. We had a hard time even getting to work. It was just something I was glad had stopped."

"It'll stop with us too. As soon as some other celebrity starts a scandal we'll be yesterday's news." Oliver's words made Hermione smile, and not even thinking about work the pair crawled back under the covers for a heated snogging session.


	16. Chapter 16

The months went by, Hermione and Oliver's relationship was still mentioned in the newpapers and reporters would come by the shop just to interview them. They had gotten to the point of changing their appearances to get in the door before Fred and George charmed the door so reporters couldn't get in anymore.

Because they weren't allowed in, the reporters would stick around outside and wait for Hermione and Oliver to leave for the night. They only got caught in the rush once before realizing they could floo home instead.

"This is getting ridiculous." Hermione sighed on Oliver's couch after work one day. "It's not like we're giving them anything more to see! In fact, we're giving them less!"

"Maybe," Oliver called from the kitchen, "We should just embrace it." He was met by a stunned silence. "By hiding we're making it seem more mysterious and romantic, but if we walk home from work and answer some of their questions they might grow tired of us sooner."

The bushy haired girl stood from the couch and opened a bottle of wine. "I just really hoped this would end, I hate being in the spot light."

"You know you're one of the saviors of the wizarding world, right?" The pair laughed lightly. "I'm surprised the papers haven't been stalking you until now."

"Well, working at a joke shop isn't exactly a premier job so there isn't much for them to report. Plus, I kept really quiet about my other relationships so there was no reason for them to stalk me."

The tall Scotsman walked over and wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist. "I guess this is the type of reception you get when you decide to date a world famous quidditch star." His smile still made Hermione weak in the knees, even after months of being together.

"Let's go out tonight. It's still early we can get a group together to go out drinking."

The pair finished their dinners and got ready to go out. Oliver threw on a pair of dark jeans and a light green button down shirt while Hermione put on light jeans, a bright orange strapless shirt, and open toed black heels.

"Ginny, get dressed we're going out." Hermione announced after flooing into the Burrow. The young red-head stared at her friend.

"Wait, when was this decided?"

Hermione smirked as she pulled her friend up into her room. "Oliver and I decided during dinner, I'm tired of hiding." Ginny squealed and started pulling clothes out of her closet, Hermione left the room and traveled up to the very top of the Burrow.

"Harry? Ron? Are you guys in there?" The aforementioned raven hair boy threw the door open at the sound of his best friend's voice. "Get dressed." Without another word the boys pulled out nicer looking shirts and pulled them on over the tee-shirts they had been lounging in.

Making their way back down the stairs Ginny was just closing her bedroom door. The four flooed over to the joke shop and met the twins and Oliver.

"We never thought you had it in you, Granger."

"It seems as though we've rubbed our adventurous side off on you." George walked over and gave her a one-armed hug. "Now, let's get the media off your backs." Fred and George shared a sly grin as everyone walked out of the store.

"Why are we walking?" Ron acted as though no one ever walked anywhere. "And where are we going?"

The twins led the way but didn't answer, only when the group rounded a corner and saw the strobe lights did Hermione know what was going on. "I've never been in a wizarding club before."

Oliver laced his fingers with hers and smiled. "It's the easiest way for wizarding media to notice us, muggle clubs aren't exactly a hot spot for daily prophet reporters."

Walking towards the club heads started to turn, of course some of the most famous people in the wizarding world were entering the club and they didn't even have to wait in line. They had tried to wait, of course but the club manager offered for them to enter right away. Reporters and photographers were snapping pictures and yelling questions to the seven but all they did was wave and smile before walking into the club. There had been a couple girls in the line that caught Fred and George's eye, they would be chatting them up as soon as they entered.

"You are always welcome here at the Screaming Banshee." He said winking pointedly at Ginny. "Now all your drinks are on the house tonight."

"Sweet!" The twins and Ron all cheered as they ran to the bar.

"What would you like to drink?" Oliver and Harry asked their respective dates.

The boys were surprised when Hermione and Ginny answered together. "Tequila sunrise!"

"Tomorrow's going to be a quiet day," Harry whispered to Oliver as they left.

The rest of the night went on as the group danced and laughed and drank with each other. At about two in the morning, after last call everyone filtered out of the building and into the damp streets of Diagon Alley. The same photographers and reporters were positioned outside the doors, and when they saw Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Oliver they started going a bit crazy.

"Miss Granger, is it true you're pregnant with Mr. Wood's child?"

"Mr. Potter when are you going to ask Ginny Weasley to marry you?"

"Mr. Weasley are you in a relationship like your two friends?"

Again, the group simply laughed at some of the questions and in their drunken stupor answered some of them.

"No, I'm not pregnant. Do you think I'd be drinking if I was?" Laughing Hermione was being directed home by Oliver who chuckled at his girlfriend's inebriated state, he was also a little drunk but not as much as the girls.

"I'll ask her to marry me when I want." Harry answered the reporter to his right, smiling lovingly at Ginny.

"Do I look like I wouldn't be in a relationship?" Sometimes Ron tried to act just as suave as Harry and it just didn't work, the group laughed at him as he tripped on a cobblestone.

"Will you be working in Weasley Wizard Wheezes for awhile, or is it just a temporary fix, Wood?"

The twins had sidled up next to the couple and cut Oliver off from talking. "We're hoping he's staying, and I think Hermione is as well."

The questions came like wildfire until the joke shop was in sight and everyone made a mad dash for the doors.

"Well, I think tonight was a success."

Just as Harry had predicted, waking up the next day was not easy for Hermione. It was only bearable when Oliver walked into his room carrying a tray of tea and toast for her to eat, as well as a pepper up potion.

"I will never drink another tequila sunrise ever again." Hermione vowed sitting up in the navy blue covers. "This is brutal."

"That's what this is for." Oliver uncorked the vial and handed it to the disheveled Hermione. "And now you should eat and get ready for work, it's seven already."

Wolfing down the tea and toast, Hermione apparated back to her flat to shower and change. She pulled on a pair of dark jeans and yellow tee shirt before magically straightening her hair and flooing into the back room of the joke shop.

"Good morning to our favorite employee!" Hoping to catch her with a hangover, George yelled across the small area.

"Good morning to you too," The chipper reply caused his face to fall and Hermione walked into the store room with a box to restock shelves.

She had a good feeling about today, she just couldn't tell why.


	17. Chapter 17

**All is** _**Love-good** _ **for Weasley**

"I wonder if Ron knows that his relationship has been leaked to the prophet." It had been a few months since the night at the club and Hermione was honestly surprised her best friend could have kept his relationship a secret for this long. The snow had come and gone, it was back to the rainy season but the weather was warming up nicely.

The couple was spending their weekend off lounging around Oliver's flat. Hermione was adorned in the quidditch jersey she had stolen from him so long ago; the one Oliver thought looked ravishing on her.

"I wonder if he knows his brothers are the ones who told the prophet."

Hermione stared at her boyfriend incredulously. "They did not." She got a nod in response.

"They were sick of reporters trying to desperately get into the shop."

Shaking her head, Hermione stood and walked into the kitchen for some tea. "I guess it was only a matter of time."

"Everything is always just a matter of time," Two strong arms wrapped around Hermione's midsection. "For instance, did you know that next month we will have been dating for one whole year?"

"I was, in fact, aware of that. Are we doing something special or just treating it like any other day?" Oliver had started kissing the brunette's shoulder and neck, causing her to moan quietly.

"If I'm correct, it should be a Sunday so that means we're having dinner at the Burrow but we can go for a romantic walk afterwards if you'd like."

"How about you take me back to bed and we start celebrating now?"

The devilish smirk on Oliver's face was enough to make Hermione's heart flutter.

Hermione awoke in her flat, without Oliver on the day of their anniversary. Slightly disappointed at the lack of her usual body pillow she threw the covers off and padded out into the living room where she was met with an almost overpowering aroma.

Flowers. Everywhere.

Shocked at the abundance of flowers, and the variety Hermione laughed out loud to herself before locating the note left on her dining room table.

_Hermione-_

_I couldn't remember what kind of flowers you liked the most so I got you a few different kinds. Sorry I couldn't be there with you this morning but I had a few errands to run before dinner tonight._

_Love,_

_Oliver_

_P.S. I made breakfast for you and put a heating charm on it so it stayed warm. Enjoy._

Wolfing down the French toast and chugging down the orange juice Hermione cleaned the dishes and stepped into the shower letting the hot water beat away the knots in her spine. It was almost forty minutes later when she emerged thoroughly pruned, magically drying her hair and straightening it Hermione went back to her room and found clothes to wear over to the Burrow.

Darker jeans and a maroon strapless top with a light black jacket in case she got chilly.

Writing a note to Oliver telling him of her whereabouts Hermione flooed over to the Burrow to help Mrs. Weasley with the weekly dinner. It seemed like everyone was home for the dinner this week, Charlie had even gotten an international portkey for a few days, and everyone had brought their significant others. Luna, Fleur, Ginny, Angelina, and Alicia were all gathered in the kitchen with tea talking with each other.

When Hermione walked in Ginny smiled brightly. "You look nice, any special occasion?" With a cheeky wink the red head poured her oldest friend a cup of tea, ignoring the questioning glances of the other girls. "It's her anniversary with Oliver." Ginny finally explained causing the other girls to squeal in delight.

"What are you guys doing to celebrate?"

Shrugging, Hermione sipped the hot liquid. "Well, we're having dinner here then I think we're going for a walk or something rather later, I'm not entirely sure."

"Did he get you any gifts?"

"I woke up and my living room was filled with flowers." The girls sighed happily. "And he cooked me breakfast but had to run out so he left it warm for me."

"Where is Oliver?" Alicia finally asked, noting her former captain's absence.

"I haven't the slightest idea really." But as she spoke three distinctive voices rang through the family room. The twins and Oliver had all arrived and were uproariously making their way into the kitchen.

"Hello love," The Scot made his way over and kissed Hermione firmly on the lips. "Happy anniversary."

"Happy anniversary, you really didn't have to get me all those flowers."

Oliver shook his head. "Of course I did, I couldn't not get you flowers on this special day of ours. But I didn't remember which kind you liked best so I went the safest route and got them all." The couple laughed as they were ushered outside with the rest of the family for dinner.

A few hours later, they finally got away from the family and started their walk around the lake behind the Burrow. With their fingers laced they walked in silence until finally reaching a group of trees set in a small circle.

"I used to come here during holidays, this was my secret place to read and get away from the chaos." The sentimental place held so many memories for Hermione; it was where she went to read private letters and to read un-educational books so no one would make fun of her. It was where she went to cry and brood and where she ran off to after announcing her parents were in Australia with no recollection of their daughter.

Oliver could sense how special the place was to her and so he walked over and placed a kiss on her temple.

"I love you Hermione Granger, with just about every fiber of my being."

"I love you too Oliver Wood." They embraced for a few moments in companionable silence before Oliver broke the silence.

"I don't know how, but I remember when you stole my heart." Confused, Hermione looked up at the man. "When I walked into the joke shop and spoke to you for the first time since Hogwarts, I didn't know it but right then is when I fell in love with you. It took me awhile to figure it out and of course the flirting and urges of our bosses helped a bit, but I can say with every bit of honesty that I am glad I got hurt playing quidditch. If I hadn't gotten hurt I wouldn't have retired early and come to work at the shop and then I never would have re-met you, the more laid back but still highly knowledgeable Hermione Granger. For the longest time, mainly in school, you were always just Harry's friend. You became part of the golden trio and saved the world but I still never got to know you and it took a career ending injury to find you and finally realize that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Staring lovingly into the chocolate brown eyes Oliver reached into his pant pocket and pulled out a velvet box making Hermione gasp.

"Hermione Granger," He dropped to one knee and opened the box exposing a beautiful princess cut diamond in a silver band. "Will you be my wife?"

Hermione loved Oliver, she was sure of that but she was unsure of how he managed to get the most perfect engagement ring for her. "Yes." She whispered, barely audible but Oliver still heard the answer. He stood swiftly picking his fiancé up in the process and twirling her around, then after setting her back firmly on the ground he placed the ring on Hermione's left hand and kissed her soundly before apparating them back to her flat.

Oliver was right: the best thing that ever happened to Hermione was that he had gotten hurt playing quidditch. He gave up something he loved so deeply and found a wonderful woman to replace the gap in his heart which grew with every kiss placed upon his lips.

"I love you so much,"

"And I love you."


End file.
